Red tegu
Salvator rufescens (Günther, 1871)
Status not recordedlizards
The red tegu (Salvator rufescens) is a species in the family Teiidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 841 g, reach 50 cm in length and live up to 10.6 years.
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Quick facts about the red tegu
- Weight
- 841 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 36.4 cm – 50 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 10.6 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 15 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grassland, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 83.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 15 – 35src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2 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
- Not recorded
How big is the red tegu?
Where does the red tegu live?
Not recorded
Is the red 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 red tegu classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyTeiidae
- genusSalvator
- SpeciesSalvator rufescens (Günther, 1871)
Synonyms Teius rufescens, Tupinambis rufescens, Tupinambis teguixin sebastiani
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- teju červenýCzech
- Rød TejuDanish
- Roter TejuGerman
- Peni coloradoSpanish
- Lagarto coloradoSpanish
- Tegu coloradoSpanish
- Teyú coloradoSpanish
- レッドテグーJapanese
- Teju czerwonyPolish
- Teiú-vermelhoPortuguese
- Красный тегуRussian
Relatives of the red tegu
Other species in the same genus Salvator.
Black tegu
Salvator merianae
Yellow tegu
Salvator duseni
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the red tegu?
An adult red tegu weighs 841 g and measures 36.4 cm – 50 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the red tegu live?
The red tegu has a recorded lifespan of 10.6 years.
What kind of animal is the red tegu?
The red tegu (Salvator rufescens) 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 - 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
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Red tegu (Salvator rufescens). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-tegu
“Red tegu (Salvator rufescens).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-tegu.
@misc{red_tegu_2026,
title = {Red tegu (Salvator rufescens)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-tegu},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}