Corytophanes

Corytophanes
Corytophanes cristatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Family:	Corytophanidae
Genus:	Corytophanes H. Boie in Schlegel, 1826
Species
Three, see text.
Synonyms [1]
Chamæleopsis, Corythophanes

Corytophanes is a genus of Neotropical lizards, commonly called helmeted iguanas or basilisks, in the family Corytophanidae. The genus contains three arboreal species and resides in tropical forests. ^[2]

Species

These species are recognized as being valid: ^[3]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Corytophanes cristatus (Merrem, 1820)	helmeted iguana	Chiapas in southern Mexico to north-western Colombia
	Corytophanes hernandesii (Wiegmann, 1831) [4]	Hernandez's helmeted basilisk	Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.
	Corytophanes percarinatus A.H.A. Duméril, 1856	Guatemalan helmeted basilisk	El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and southern Mexico (Chiapas).

Nota bene : A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Corytophanes.

Etymology

The specific name, hernandesii, is in honor of Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández (1514-1587). ^[5]

References

1. Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. Iguanidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I-XXIV. (Genus "Corythophanes [sic]", p. 101).
2. Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. ISBN   0-7167-0020-4. ("Corythophanes [sic]", p. 291).
3. Genus Corytophanes at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
4. Wilson LD, McCranie JR (2002). "Update on the list of reptiles known from Honduras". Herpetological Review33 (2): 90-94.
5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. (Corytophanes hernandesii, p. 122).

Further reading

• Schlegel H (1826). "Herpetologische Nachrichten ". Isis von Oken20 (3): 281-294. (Corytophanes, new genus, p. 290). (in German),