Liolaemus occipitalisBoulenger, 1885

Skull Tree Iguana

Photograph by vinicius_s_domingues, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A ground-dwelling, day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 72 mm snout to vent.

Reptilia › Squamata › Liolaemidae › Liolaemus

Grows to: 71.5mm; greatest recorded
Eats: Omnivorous
Active: Diurnal
Lives: Terrestrial

Body length across Liolaemidae

Longer than only 35% of all species in Liolaemidae anyone has measured.

35% of 338 species are smaller65% larger

49.7 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest120 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 49.7 to 120 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

37 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living: Extant
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked: 2014
Population trend: Decreasing
Red List criteria: B2ab(ii,iii)

The animal itself

Limbs: Four legs
Venomous: No
Fangs: None
Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured: 29.7°C
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild: 31.35°C88 °F
Body temp in the wild · mean, when active: 28.8–33.9°C84–93 °F

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded: 71.5mm2.75 in
Length snout to vent · adult female mean: 53.2mm2 in
Largest female · snout to vent: 53.2mm2 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed: 11.61g0.41 oz

How it lives

Diet: Omnivorous
How it hunts: Sit and wait
Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Terrestrial
Habitat: Shrubland
Biome: Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Region: Neotropic
Mainland or island: Mainland
Highest it lives · above sea level: 250m
Range size: 1040km²

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous
Average clutch: 4.5eggs
Eggs or young per clutch: 2eggs
Mean clutch: 2eggs
Clutches a year: 1per year

Naming and history

Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Pleurodonta
Subspecies: No
Described by: Boulenger
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: No
Described in: 1885
Type locality: Brazil

Keeping one

Skull Tree Iguana is assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Species at risk in the wild are often covered by CITES and by national law, which decide what may be bought, sold, moved across a border or kept at all — and captive-bred and wild-caught animals are usually treated differently. Check the rules where you are before acquiring one. Nothing below is a judgement about keeping this species; it is what a published welfare standard says about space, and what the animal itself was measured doing.

11.5 in × 11.5 in × 7 in(29 × 29 × 18 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 2.75 in (71.5 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 85 °F (29.7 °C).

Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.

Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.

2kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 12 g, the heaviest recorded for Skull Tree Iguana — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

— Length snout to vent · adult male mean
— Length snout to vent · adult mean
— Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
— Female length · mean, nose to tail
— Length nose to tail · adult male mean
— Length nose to tail · adult mean
— Largest male · snout to vent
— Largest female · shell length
— Largest male · shell length
— Hatchling length · snout to vent
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · snout to vent
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · a typical adult
— Body mass · adult female, mean
— Body mass at hatching
— Longest recorded life
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Clutches in a year
— First breeds from · youngest recorded
— First breeds by · oldest recorded
— Hatchling length · smallest recorded
— Hatchling length · largest recorded
— Age at first breeding · female
— Mature from · youngest recorded
— Mature by · oldest recorded
— Size at maturity · smallest recorded
— Size at maturity · largest recorded
— Colour on the back
— Pattern on the back
— Pupil
— Sex decided by
— Active season · shortest recorded
— Active season · longest recorded
— Density · lowest recorded
— Density · highest recorded
— Home range · largest recorded
— Active in
— Lowest it lives · above sea level

Others in Liolaemidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Liolaemus occipitalis. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-occipitalis

@misc{liolaemus_occipitalis_2026,
  title  = {Liolaemus occipitalis},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-occipitalis}
}

Sources

Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.