NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
LyreShead Lizard
Lyriocephalus scutatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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.
Hump-nosed Lizard, Lyriocephalus scutatus, Sri Lanka
Nyanatusita · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Lyriocephalus is a genus of lizard within the agamid family, with the sole species Lyriocephalus scutatus. It is the largest agamid endemic to Sri Lanka and lives in dense wet zone forests. It is also called the hump-nosed lizard, hump snout lizard or the lyreshead lizard.
Wikipedia contributors, Lyriocephalus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:56:31.240974+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lyriocephalus scutatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- LyreShead Lizard
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Agamidae
- Genus
- Lyriocephalus
- 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
- familyAgamidae
- subfamilyDraconinae
- genusLyriocephalus
- speciesLyriocephalus scutatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Lacerta scutata Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Iguana clamosa Laurenti, 1768 Laurenti, 1768 | synonym |
| Lyriocephalus margaritaceus Merrem, 1819 Merrem, 1819 | synonym |
| Lyriocephalus margaritaceus Merrem, 1820 Merrem, 1820 | synonym |
| Lyriocephalus macgregorii Gray, 1835 Gray, 1835 | 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=Lyriocephalus&species=scutatus 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:3WTKN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.