Yellow-spotted tropical night lizard
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| Yellow-spotted tropical night lizard | ||||||||||||||
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| Lepidophyma flavimaculatum A. Duméril, 1851 |
The yellow-spotted tropical night lizard (Lepidophyma flavimaculatum) is a night lizard ranging from central Mexico to Panama. It includes two subspecies, Lepidophyma flavimaculatum flavimaculatum and Lepidophyma flavimaculatum obscurum.
Yellow-spotted tropical night lizards are among the largest of the night lizards, reaching a length of 12.7 cm. They are nearly black in color, with a series of yellow spots running along their sides from the tips of their snouts to their rear flanks. The spots shift into thin and subtle yellow bands on their tails. There is also yellow coloring on their underbody. Their heads are smooth and snakelike in appearance, while their bodies are covered in rough skin.
Like all night lizards, it is viviparous, giving live birth to its young. Yellow-spotted tropical night lizards also include all-female parthenogenetic (asexually reproducing) populations, located towards the southern end of their range in Central America.
Yellow-spotted tropical night lizards live in decaying logs in wet climates. The average life span of the Yellow-spotted tropical night lizard is around 10-15 years in the wild.
