CreatureData

Lion lizard

Leiocephalus carinatus Gray, 1827

Status not recordedlizards

The lion lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus) is a species in the family Leiocephalidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 30 g, reach 13 cm in length and live up to 10.8 years.

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Quick facts about the lion lizard

Weight
30 gsrc for Weight
Length
9.11 cm – 13 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
10.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
62.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4 – 8src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
2src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active
By day (diurnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Brain mass
71.7 mgsrc for Brain mass
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the lion lizard?

LION LIZARD · LENGTH 13 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 13 cm, the recorded maximum length of the lion lizard is about 7.6% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the lion lizard live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

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

  1. Mexicoinvasive
  2. Turks & Caicos Islands
  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 lion lizard 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 lion lizard classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderSquamata
  5. familyLeiocephalidae
  6. genusLeiocephalus
  7. SpeciesLeiocephalus carinatus Gray, 1827

Synonyms Holotropis microlophus, Leiocephalus macleayii

Other names and names in other languages (15)
  • Carinate curly-tailed lizardEnglish
  • Hispaniolan masked curly-tailed lizardEnglish
  • Northern curly-tailed lizardEnglish
  • Northern curlytail lizardEnglish
  • Saw-scaled curlytailEnglish
  • leguánek měnivýCzech
  • Savskællet KrølhaleleguanDanish
  • RollschwanzleguanGerman
  • lagarto cola rizada de las AntillasSpanish
  • Perrito de costaSpanish
  • Iguane caréné à queue boucléeFrench
  • lucertola dalla coda arricciataItalian
  • Lagarto-de-cauda-enrolada-do-nortePortuguese
  • Килеватая масковая игуанаRussian
  • Little Bahama Curly-tailed Lizardroot

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistITISWikidata

Relatives of the lion lizard

Other species in the same genus Leiocephalus.

CompareLion lizard vs Cuban brown curlytailLion lizard vs Navassa curlytail lizardLion lizard vs Martinique curlytail lizardLion lizard vs Haitian curlytail lizard

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the lion lizard?

An adult lion lizard weighs 30 g and measures 9.11 cm – 13 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

How long does the lion lizard live?

The lion lizard has a recorded lifespan of 10.8 years.

Is the lion lizard an invasive species?

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

What kind of animal is the lion lizard?

The lion lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus) belongs to the family Leiocephalidae in the order Squamata.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Lion lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lion-lizard

MLA

“Lion lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/lion-lizard.

BibTeX
@misc{lion_lizard_2026,
  title = {Lion lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lion-lizard},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}