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Squamata · TropiduridaeEntry 19,593 of 21,572

Reptilia · Squamata

Stenocercus qalaywasiVenegas, García-Ayachi, Chávez-Arribasplata, García-Bravo, 2022

No photograph of this species exists under a license anyone may reuse. It gets the same page regardless.

A day-active lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 95 mm snout to vent.

No English name has been recorded for this species.

ReptiliaSquamataTropiduridaeStenocercus

Grows to
95mm
greatest recorded
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Arboreal, saxicolous
Weighs up to
31.15g
greatest
Body length across Tropiduridae

Longer than 50% of all species in Tropiduridae anyone has measured.

50% of 147 species are smaller50% larger
57 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest177 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 57 to 177 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

20 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

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
95mm3.75 in

Venegas et al. 2022 (Maximum SVL in males 88 mm (n = 1); (2) maximum SVL in females 95 mm (n = 1))

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
95mm3.75 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
31.15g1.1 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

Body mass · adult female, meanmeasured
8.91g0.31 oz

How it lives

Active
Diurnal

"Six individuals of S. qalaywasi were observed basking on sunny days at 0900 hours on the rooftops of Lampa Pariahuanca village houses. When disturbed, they hid under the roof tiles, in holes between bricks or in the slit between roof and wall.." (Venegas et al. 2022)

Where it lives
Arboreal, saxicolous
Region
Neotropic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
2580–2590m

at an elevation of 2,587 m. (Venegas et al. 2022)

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Pleurodonta
Subspecies
No
Described by
Venegas, García-Ayachi, Chávez-Arribasplata, García-Bravo
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
No
Described in
2022
Type locality
Peru

Keeping one

15 in × 15 in × 15 in(38 × 38 × 38 cm)

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

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

Recorded both on the ground and climbing, so this is the larger of the two rules in every dimension.

Lives on rock, so stable hard surfaces and basking ledges suit it.

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 3.75 in (95 mm), at 4 × 4 × 4 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Stenocercus qalaywasi. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.

Feeding

4kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 31 g, the heaviest recorded for Stenocercus qalaywasi — 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 female · snout to vent
  • 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 at hatching
  • Longest recorded life
  • Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
  • Diet
  • Eats arthropods
  • Eats vertebrates
  • Eats plant matter
  • How it hunts
  • Reproduction
  • How the young develop
  • Gestation or incubation
  • Average clutch
  • Smallest clutch recorded
  • Largest clutch recorded
  • Mean clutch · smallest reported
  • Mean clutch · largest reported
  • Clutches in a year
  • Clutches a year · fewest
  • Clutches a year · most
  • 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
  • Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
  • Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
  • Colour on the back
  • Pattern on the back
  • Pupil
  • Sex decided by
  • Conservation status
  • Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
  • Population trend
  • Red List criteria
  • Biome
  • Active season · shortest recorded
  • Active season · longest recorded
  • Density · lowest recorded
  • Density · highest recorded
  • Home range · largest recorded
  • Habitat
  • Active in
  • Range size

Others in Tropiduridae

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). Stenocercus qalaywasi. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/stenocercus-qalaywasi

@misc{stenocercus_qalaywasi_2026,
  title  = {Stenocercus qalaywasi},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/stenocercus-qalaywasi}
}

Sources

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