Common basilisk
Basiliscus basiliscus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedlizards
The common basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus) is a species in the family Corytophanidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh 218.8 g to 425 g, reach 20.3 cm in length and live up to 6 years.
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Quick facts about the common basilisk
- Weight
- 218.8 g – 425 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 16 cm – 20.3 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 6 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 9 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 93 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2 – 20src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 10 months – 20 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1 – 8src 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 common basilisk?
Where does the common basilisk live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the common 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 common 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 common basilisk classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyCorytophanidae
- genusBasiliscus
- SpeciesBasiliscus basiliscus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Basiliscus americanus, Basiliscus barbouri, Basiliscus guttulatus, Basiliscus mitratus, Lacerta basiliscus, Lophosaura goodridgii, Ophryessa bilineata
Other names and names in other languages (21)
- Jesus Christ lizardEnglish
- Шаломаносны васіліскBelarusian
- Basilisc comúCatalan
- bazilišek hřebenatýCzech
- Brun BasiliskDanish
- HelmbasiliskGerman
- BasiliscoSpanish
- Basilisco comúnSpanish
- Lagarto jesucristo comúnSpanish
- MerachoSpanish
- Toloque centroamericanoSpanish
- BasiliskitFinnish
- Basilic communFrench
- בסיליסק מצויHebrew
- BaziliskCroatian
- sisakos baziliszkuszHungarian
- Basilisco comuneItalian
- チャイロバシリスクJapanese
- Шлемоносный василискRussian
- இயேசுப் பல்லிTamil
- Василіск звичайнийUkrainian
Relatives of the common basilisk
Other species in the same genus Basiliscus.
Green Basiisk
Basiliscus plumifrons
Brown basilisk
Basiliscus vittatus
Western basilisk
Basiliscus galeritus
CompareCommon basilisk vs Green BasiiskCommon basilisk vs Brown basiliskCommon basilisk vs Western basilisk
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the common basilisk?
An adult common basilisk weighs 218.8 g – 425 g and measures 16 cm – 20.3 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the common basilisk live?
The common basilisk has a recorded lifespan of 6 years.
Is the common basilisk an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the common basilisk as introduced in 1 country: Guyana, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the common basilisk?
The common basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus) 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). Common basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-basilisk
“Common basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-basilisk.
@misc{common_basilisk_2026,
title = {Common basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-basilisk},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}