Gold tegu
Tupinambis teguixin (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedlizards
The gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin) is a species in the family Teiidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh 1.34 kg to 2.21 kg, reach 35.1 cm in length and live up to 12.9 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the gold tegu
- Weight
- 1.34 kg – 2.21 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- 32.1 cm – 35.1 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 12.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 16.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 154 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.5 – 32src for Young per litter or clutch
- 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
- Not recorded
How big is the gold tegu?
Where does the gold tegu live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the gold tegu as introduced in 1 country, and flagged as invasive in it.
- Mexicoinvasive
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 gold 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 gold tegu classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyTeiidae
- genusTupinambis
- SpeciesTupinambis teguixin (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Laacerta tupinambis, Lacerta monitor, Lacerta teguixin, Monitor americanus, Monitor meriani, Monitor teguixin, Podinema teguixin, Seps marmoratus, Tupinambis monitor, Tupinambis nigropunctatus
Other names and names in other languages (39)
- Black teguEnglish
- Colombian teguEnglish
- Common golden teguEnglish
- Golden teguEnglish
- Tiger lizardEnglish
- teju žakruarúCzech
- Amazonas-tejuDanish
- IguanGerman
- BändertejuGerman
- GoldtejuGerman
- SalompenterGerman
- Schwarz-Weisser TejuGerman
- Lobo polleroSpanish
- Lagarto overoSpanish
- Tégu communFrench
- Téju communFrench
- Téju teguixin (Le)French
- Hosszú tejuHungarian
- キタテグーJapanese
- Gebandeerde reuzentejuDutch
- teju brazylijskiPolish
- TeguPortuguese
- JacuaruPortuguese
- JacuraruPortuguese
- JacuruaruPortuguese
- LagartiuPortuguese
- LagartoPortuguese
- TeiúPortuguese
- Teiú-AçuPortuguese
- TeiuguaçuPortuguese
- TejoPortuguese
- Tejo-D'águaPortuguese
- TejuPortuguese
- TejuaçuPortuguese
- ТегуRussian
- ЖакруаруRussian
- Чернопятнистый тегуRussian
- GuldtejuSwedish
- Тегу золотийUkrainian
Relatives of the gold tegu
Other species in the same genus Tupinambis.
Rondônia tegu
Tupinambis longilineus
Swamp tegu
Tupinambis palustris
Four-lined tegu
Tupinambis quadrilineatus
Cryptic golden tegu
Tupinambis cryptus
Cusco tegu
Tupinambis cuzcoensis
Maracaibo Basin tegu
Tupinambis zuliensis
CompareGold tegu vs Rondônia teguGold tegu vs Swamp teguGold tegu vs Four-lined teguGold tegu vs Cryptic golden tegu
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the gold tegu?
An adult gold tegu weighs 1.34 kg – 2.21 kg and measures 32.1 cm – 35.1 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the gold tegu live?
The gold tegu has a recorded lifespan of 12.9 years.
Is the gold tegu an invasive species?
In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the gold tegu as invasive in 1 country: Mexico. It lists it as introduced in 1 in all.
What kind of animal is the gold tegu?
The gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin) belongs to the family Teiidae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. 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). Gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/gold-tegu
“Gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/gold-tegu.
@misc{gold_tegu_2026,
title = {Gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/gold-tegu},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}