Brown-eyed Dwarf-Iguana

Reptiles of Ecuador | Sauria | Hoplocercidae | Enyalioides altotambo

Spanish common name: Iguana enana de ojos cafés.

Recognition: ♂♂ 34.1 cm ♀♀ 32.6 cm. Enyalioides altotambo is unique among dwarf iguanas (genus Enyalioides) in northwestern Ecuador in having brown eyes and lacking a pale vertical line above the arm. The most similar species is E. oshaughnessyi, a species that has bright red eyes and occurs south of the known range of E. altotambo.

Picture: Adult male.

Adult male Enyalioides altotambo

Picture: Adult male.

Adult male Enyalioides altotambo

Picture: Adult male.

Adult male Enyalioides altotambo

Picture: Juvenile.

Juvenile Enyalioides altotambo

Picture: Juvenile.

Juvenile Enyalioides altotambo

Natural history: Frequent. Enyalioides altotambo is a diurnal sunlight-loving semiarboreal lizard that sleeps on stems and tree trunks 1.2–3 m above the ground during the night.1,2 It is a territorial species found in primary and secondary evergreen forests usually close to bodies of water.1 Enyalioides altotambo avoids predators by staying still and blending against the vegetation or by moving up and around trunks.1

Conservation: Vulnerable. We consider Enyalioides altotambo to be in this category following IUCN criteria3 because its extent of occurrence is estimated to be less than 20,000 km2, it occurs in less than 10 localities, and there is continuing decline in the area, extent and quality of its habitat.4

Distribution: Chocoan lowlands in Ecuador and (probably) Colombia.

Distribution of Enyalioides altotambo in Ecuador

Etymology: The generic name Enyalioides, which comes from the Latin words Enyalius (a genus of neotropical lizards) and oides (meaning “similar to”), refers to the similarity between lizards of the two genera.5 The specific epithet altotambo refers to Alto Tambo, province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, a village on the Ibarra-San Lorenzo road where E. altotambo was discovered.2

Authors: Alejandro ArteagaaAffiliation: Biodiversity Field Lab, Khamai Foundation, Quito, Ecuador.

Literature cited:

  1. Field notes, Reptiles of Ecuador book project.
  2. Torres-Carvajal O, Venegas PJ, de Queiroz K (2015) Three new species of woodlizards (Hoplocercinae, Enyalioides) from northwestern South America. ZooKeys 494: 107–132.
  3. IUCN (2001) IUCN Red List categories and criteria: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, Gland and Cambridge, 30 pp.
  4. MAE (2012) Línea base de deforestación del Ecuador continental. Ministerio del Ambiente, Quito, 32 pp.
  5. Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D (2018) Reptiles del Ecuador. Version 2018.0. Available from: https://bioweb.bio