Red-sided Curly-tailed Lizard
Leiocephalus schreibersii (Gravenhorst, 1838)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

A male curly tail lizard protecting his basking area from another male.
Thamnophis · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Hispaniolan curlytail lizard (Leiocephalus schreibersii), also known as the Hispaniolan khaki curlytail, the red-sided curlytail lizard, the red-sided curly-tailed lizard, or Schreibers's curly-tailed lizard, is a common lizard species in the family Leiocephalidae. It is native to Hispaniola (in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in the Caribbean, and an introduced population is found in southern Florida. There are two recognized subspecies.
Wikipedia contributors, Hispaniolan curlytail lizard; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:07:52.998430+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Leiocephalus schreibersii (Gravenhorst, 1838)
- Name authority
- (Gravenhorst, 1838)
- Common name
- Red-sided Curly-tailed Lizard
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Leiocephalidae
- Genus
- Leiocephalus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderIguania
- familyLeiocephalidae
- genusLeiocephalus
- speciesLeiocephalus schreibersii (Gravenhorst, 1838)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Leiocephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Central Haitian CurlytailLeiocephalus endomychus Schwartz, 1967 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Morovis CurlytailLeiocephalus etheridgei Pregill, 1981 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| East Plana CurlytailLeiocephalus greenwayi Barbour & Shreve, 1935 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Martinique Curlytail LizardLeiocephalus herminieri (Duméril & Bibron, 1837) | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atalaye Curlytail LizardLeiocephalus pratensis (Cochran, 1928) | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bastion Cay Curlytail LizardLeiocephalus psammodromus Barbour, 1920 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mountain Curlytail LizardLeiocephalus raviceps Cope, 1863 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Haitian Black-throated CurlytailLeiocephalus rhutidira Schwartz, 1979 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hispaniolan Pale-bellied CurlytailLeiocephalus semilineatus Dunn, 1920 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cabo Corrientes Curlytail lizardLeiocephalus stictigaster Schwartz, 1959 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cochran's Curlytail LizardLeiocephalus vinculum Cochran, 1928 | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cuban Brown CurlytailLeiocephalus cubensis (Gray, 1840) | LeiocephalidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Tropidurus schreibersi Fitzinger, 1826 Fitzinger, 1826 | synonym |
| Pristinotus schreibersii Gravenhorst, 1838 Gravenhorst, 1838 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Leiocephalus&species=schreibersii Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3SY4J. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.