The Eastern Casquehead Iguana is from the suborder Iguania, family Corytophanidae, genus Laemanctus, and is sometimes known by various other names including the Casquehead Basilisk, Casque Headed Lizard or Cone headed Lizard. They get their common name from the helmet or cone that protrudes from the back of their head and there are two main sub species, Laemanctus serratus and Laemanctus longipes. Ours are the latter which are the smaller of the two and do not have the serrations around the edge of the cone or the serrated dorsal crest which is a characteristic identifier of L. serratus and an easy way to differentiate the two sub species (there is actually a very slight serrated dorsal crest evident on L. longipes but you have to look very closely to see it, nothing like as obvious as in L. serratus).
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They are an arboreal species originating from the tropical rain forests of Central America where conditions are hot and humid, spending most of their time living in the trees hunting prey and avoiding predators. Their natural forest habitat covers an area that spreads from South Eastern Mexico, round the Yucatan Peninsula and south as far as Honduras and Nicaragua. This is roughly the area of Meso-America once inhabited by the Mayan civilization, with the Yucatan Peninsula (and Chicxulub Crater) believed by many palaeontologists to be the location of the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. Their IUCN Conservation Status is currently 'Least Concern', meaning they are not threatened in the wild (unless another asteroid comes along), and they are not CITES listed.
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L. longipes is a small to medium size lizard, and is a lot smaller than the general perception of an Iguana. Fully grown their length from nose to vent is around 12cm, with a total length of up to 55cm when including the very long slender tail that can reach over 3 times the length of the body, and the weight of a fully grown adult is around 100g. Their long tail is not dropped and does not appear to be used in any kind of defensive capacity, so it would seem the extreme length is just to aid balance. They also have strong back legs and long flexible toes used for climbing through branches to catch prey. In fact the name longipes is derived from the Latin words 'longus' and 'pes' meaning 'long toes'.
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Colouring for L. longipes is overall a bright green with a slightly lighter underbody. Brown stripes run the length of the slim body, one down each flank starting from behind the eyes, underlined with a thinner white broken stripe beneath. Another brown stripe runs the length of the spine and down the tail. The top of the nose and head is also brown, sometimes edged with black spots. These colours can change considerably dependant on the environmental conditions with a reduction in green and an overall dull brown appearance indicating low temperatures.
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