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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Tuxtla Tropical Night Lizard

Lepidophyma tuxtlae Werler & Shannon, 1957

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.

Lepidophyma tuxtlae WERLER & SHANNON 1957; Lepidophyma flavimaculatum tuxtlae — SAVAGE 1963; Lepidophyma sawini SMITH 1973; Lepidophyma alvarezi SMITH 1973; Lepidophyma tuxtlae — LINER 1994

Lepidophyma tuxtlae WERLER & SHANNON 1957; Lepidophyma flavimaculatum tuxtlae — SAVAGE 1963; Lepidophyma sawini SMITH 1973; Lepidophyma alvarezi SMITH 1973; Lepidophyma tuxtlae — LINER 1994

Jorge Armín Escalante Pasos · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source

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Open encyclopedia reference

Lepidophyma tuxtlae, the Tuxtla tropical night lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Xantusiidae. It is a small lizard found in Mexico. It is native to the Sierra de los Tuxtlas in coastal Veracruz and south and west into northern Oaxaca, southern Veracruz, and northern Chiapas. It is found from 150 to 1,500 meters elevation.

Wikipedia contributors, Lepidophyma tuxtlae; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:52:51.965637+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Lepidophyma tuxtlae Werler & Shannon, 1957
Name authority
Werler & Shannon, 1957
Common name
Tuxtla 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.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderAutarchoglossa
  11. familyXantusiidae
  12. subfamilyLepidophyminae
  13. genusLepidophyma
  14. speciesLepidophyma tuxtlae Werler & Shannon, 1957

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Lepidophyma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Sunidero Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma cuicatecum Canseco-Marquez, Gutiierez-Mayen & Mendoza-Hernandez, 2008XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Gaige's Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma gaigeae Mosauer, 1936XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Lowe’s Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma lowei Bezy & Camarillo, 1997XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Mayan Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma mayae Bezy, 1973XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Cave Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma micropholis Walker, 1955XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Yautepec Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma radula (Smith, 1942)XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Costa Rican Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma reticulatum Taylor, 1955XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Madrean Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma sylvaticum Taylor, 1939XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Lipetz's Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma lipetzi Smith & Del Toro, 1977XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Tarascan Tropical Night LizardLepidophyma tarascae Bezy, Webb & Álvarez, 1982XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Lepidophyma inagoi Palacios-Aguilar, Santos-Bibiano & Flores-Villela, 2018XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Lepidophyma lusca Arenas-Moreno, Muñoz-Nolasco, Bautista-Del Moral, Rodríguez-Miranda, Domínguez-Guerrero & Méndez-De LA Cruz, 2021XantusiidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 35 records assigned to Xantusiidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Lepidophyma alvarezi Smith, 1973 Smith, 1973synonym
Lepidophyma sawini Smith, 1973 Smith, 1973synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

SE Mexico (Veracruz, Oaxaca, Puebla)

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.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Lepidophyma&species=tuxtlae 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:3TCJV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.