Brown basilisk
Basiliscus vittatus Wiegmann, 1828
Status not recordedlizards
The brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) is a species in the family Corytophanidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh 51.7 g to 70 g, reach 12.9 cm in length and live up to 7.45 years.
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Quick facts about the brown basilisk
- Weight
- 51.7 g – 70 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 11.9 cm – 12.9 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 7.45 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 9.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 60 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2 – 18src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 6 months – 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1 – 6.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the brown basilisk?
Where does the brown basilisk live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the brown basilisk as introduced in 1 country.
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 brown basilisk 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 brown basilisk classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyCorytophanidae
- genusBasiliscus
- SpeciesBasiliscus vittatus Wiegmann, 1828
Synonyms Basiliscus nuchalis, Cristasaurus mitrella, Daconura bivittata, Dactylocalotes elisa
Other names and names in other languages (23)
- Common basiliskEnglish
- Striped basiliskEnglish
- bazilišek pruhovanýCzech
- Stribet BasiliskDanish
- StreifenbasiliskGerman
- BasiliscoSpanish
- Basilisco caféSpanish
- Basilisco rayadoSpanish
- CharancacoSpanish
- Pasa ríos rayadoSpanish
- PasarriosSpanish
- TequerequeSpanish
- Toloque rayadoSpanish
- TuripacheSpanish
- Basilic brunFrench
- Basilic à barres jaunesFrench
- Basilisco marrone del NordItalian
- ノギハラバシリスクJapanese
- Gestreepte BasiliskDutch
- bazyliszek pręgowanyPolish
- Мексиканский полосатый василискRussian
- progasti baziliskSlovenian
- 芒腹冠蜥Chinese
Relatives of the brown basilisk
Other species in the same genus Basiliscus.
Green Basiisk
Basiliscus plumifrons
Common basilisk
Basiliscus basiliscus
Western basilisk
Basiliscus galeritus
CompareBrown basilisk vs Green BasiiskBrown basilisk vs Common basiliskBrown basilisk vs Western basilisk
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the brown basilisk?
An adult brown basilisk weighs 51.7 g – 70 g and measures 11.9 cm – 12.9 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the brown basilisk live?
The brown basilisk has a recorded lifespan of 7.45 years.
Is the brown basilisk an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the brown basilisk as introduced in 1 country: United States, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the brown basilisk?
The brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) belongs to the family Corytophanidae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-basilisk
“Brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-basilisk.
@misc{brown_basilisk_2026,
title = {Brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-basilisk},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}