CreatureData

Black tegu

Salvator merianae Duméril & Bibron, 1839

Status not recordedlizards

The black tegu (Salvator merianae) is a species in the family Teiidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh 1.34 kg to 2.21 kg, reach 34.8 cm in length and live up to 12.9 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Brazil.

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Quick facts about the black tegu

Weight
1.34 kg – 2.21 kgsrc for Weight
Length
34 cm – 34.8 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
12.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
20 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
152 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
7.3 – 66src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active
By day (diurnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the black tegu?

BLACK TEGU · LENGTH 34.8 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 34.8 cm, the recorded maximum length of the black tegu is about 20% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

What does the black tegu eat, and what eats it?

Species recorded in published studies and collections.

Recorded prey of the black tegu

1 on record

  1. Nine-banded armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus2 sources

Recorded predators of the black tegu

1 on record

  1. Lichtenstein's green racer Philodryas olfersii2 sources

Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).

References for these records

Where does the black tegu live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The black tegu is listed for 1 country.

Brazil
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Brazil

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ReptileDB (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the black tegu as introduced in 3 countries, and flagged as invasive in 1 of them.

  1. Brazilinvasive
  2. South Africa
  3. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the black tegu endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the black tegu classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderSquamata
  5. familyTeiidae
  6. genusSalvator
  7. SpeciesSalvator merianae Duméril & Bibron, 1839

Synonyms Lacertus tupinambis, Tupinambis merianae, Tupinambis teguixin, Tupinambis teguixin buzioensis, Tupinambis teguixin sebastiani

Other names and names in other languages (37)
  • Argentine black and white teguEnglish
  • Argentine black-and-white teguEnglish
  • Argentine giant teguEnglish
  • Argentine teguEnglish
  • Black-and-white teguEnglish
  • teju pruhovanýCzech
  • Argentinsk TeguDanish
  • Schwarzweißer TejuGerman
  • Lagarto OveroSpanish
  • Tegu blanco y negroSpanish
  • Tégu noir et blancFrench
  • טגו ארגנטינאיHebrew
  • ミナミテグーJapanese
  • Teju argentyńskiPolish
  • TiúPortuguese
  • JacuraruPortuguese
  • LagartoPortuguese
  • Lagarto-ComumPortuguese
  • Lagarto-TejoPortuguese
  • TeguPortuguese
  • TeiúPortuguese
  • Teiú-AçuPortuguese
  • Teiú-BrancoPortuguese
  • Teiú-BrasileiroPortuguese
  • Teiú-ComumPortuguese
  • Teiú-GigantePortuguese
  • TeiuaçuPortuguese
  • TejoPortuguese
  • TejuPortuguese
  • TejúPortuguese
  • Tejú-AçuPortuguese
  • TejuaçuPortuguese
  • TejuguaçuPortuguese
  • TijuPortuguese
  • Tiú-AçuPortuguese
  • TivaçuPortuguese
  • Аргентинский черно-белый тегуRussian

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistITISWikidata

Relatives of the black tegu

Other species in the same genus Salvator.

Red tegu

Salvator rufescens

TeiidaeNo free photo yet

CompareBlack tegu vs Yellow teguBlack tegu vs Red tegu

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black tegu?

An adult black tegu weighs 1.34 kg – 2.21 kg and measures 34 cm – 34.8 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the black tegu live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the black tegu for 1 country: Brazil. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

How long does the black tegu live?

The black tegu has a recorded lifespan of 12.9 years.

Is the black tegu an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the black tegu as invasive in 1 country: Brazil. It lists it as introduced in 3 in all.

What kind of animal is the black tegu?

The black tegu (Salvator merianae) belongs to the family Teiidae in the order Squamata.

What eats the black tegu?

Animals recorded preying on the black tegu include lichtenstein's green racer. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

Which animals does the black tegu eat?

Animals recorded as prey of the black tegu include nine-banded armadillo. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black tegu (Salvator merianae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-tegu

MLA

“Black tegu (Salvator merianae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-tegu.

BibTeX
@misc{black_tegu_2026,
  title = {Black tegu (Salvator merianae)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-tegu},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}