NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Smith's Tropical Night Lizard
Lepidophyma smithii Bocourt, 1876
Source-backed taxonomic record
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Lepidophyma smithii, Smith's tropical night lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Xantusiidae. It is a small lizard found in Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. They live in small caves with scarce levels of food and nutrients. Due to their habitat, Lepidophyma smithii is rather elusive. Smith's tropical night lizard is an omnivore, with a diet consisting of mostly fig tree fruit and vegetation, and insects. These lizards confine their movement to remain within the shelter of their caves, and do not emerge in during the day or night. All adult L.smithii are approximately 25 grams, but males have a slightly larger body size, wider heads and tails, and longer snouts, when compared to their female counterparts. Lepidophyma smithii reside in close quarters to other Lepidophyma species, often living via parapatric speciation.
Wikipedia contributors, Lepidophyma smithii; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:57:40.050450+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lepidophyma smithii Bocourt, 1876
- Name authority
- Bocourt, 1876
- Common name
- Smith's Tropical Night Lizard
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Xantusiidae
- Genus
- Lepidophyma
- 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
- suborderAutarchoglossa
- familyXantusiidae
- subfamilyLepidophyminae
- genusLepidophyma
- speciesLepidophyma smithii Bocourt, 1876
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lepidophyma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Sunidero Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma cuicatecum Canseco-Marquez, Gutiierez-Mayen & Mendoza-Hernandez, 2008 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gaige's Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma gaigeae Mosauer, 1936 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lowe’s Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma lowei Bezy & Camarillo, 1997 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mayan Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma mayae Bezy, 1973 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cave Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma micropholis Walker, 1955 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yautepec Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma radula (Smith, 1942) | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Costa Rican Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma reticulatum Taylor, 1955 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Madrean Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma sylvaticum Taylor, 1939 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tuxtla Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma tuxtlae Werler & Shannon, 1957 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lipetz's Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma lipetzi Smith & Del Toro, 1977 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tarascan Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma tarascae Bezy, Webb & Álvarez, 1982 | XantusiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lepidophyma inagoi Palacios-Aguilar, Santos-Bibiano & Flores-Villela, 2018 | XantusiidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Lepidophyma smithii tehuanae Smith, 1942 Smith, 1942 | 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=Lepidophyma&species=smithii 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:3TCJS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.