Added 8 April 2026.
A bitypic genus found in Colombia and Venezuela. The species C. mentalis was subsequently reassigned to Acratosaura.
Boulenger characterised the genus as follows: head with large regular shields; frontonasal separating the nasals; prefrontals and frontoparietals present; nostril pierced in the middle of a single nasal. Eyelids developed, lower with a transparent disk. Ear exposed. Limbs well developed, the inner finger rudimentary, clawless. Dorsal scales hexagonal-lanceolate, keeled, imbricate, forming transverse series, similar to the caudals; lateral and ventral scales smooth, rounded, imbricate, the ventrals transversely dilated and forming four longitudinal rows. No collar fold. Tail cylindrical. Females without femoral pores.
I am not aware of these lizards having been kept in captivity.
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QUICK INDEX |
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C. kraepelini, Chaco Colobosaurua |
C. modesta, Bahia Colobosaura |
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Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
Colobosaura |
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Chaco Colobosaura |
Paraguay |
TL 10 cm?, SVL 4 cm |
This species is distributed in an area of savanna composed of palms, native bunch grasses and scattered islands of semideciduous temperate forest [Cacciali et al]. Description: prefrontals moderately large, forming a clear suture; likewise frontoparietals; interparietals large, as long and wide as the parietals, approximately 1½ times as long as wide. An unpaired chin shield, with two pairs of large chin shields behind, followed by a pair of transversely widened, narrow shields which are separated by two small shields from the adjacent sublabials. Male with 7 femoral pores on each side. 26 scales around midbody; 52 from occiput to beyond the cloacal slit; 27 from the rear chin shields to the anal shields. Tongue with oblique folds. Coloration: reddish-brown above, sides darker, underneath whitish. [SOURCES: Werner 1910] |
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Bahia Colobosaura |
Brazil, Paraguay |
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Description: body elongate ; snout truncate. Frontonasal large, broader than long; prefrontals and frontoparietals small; interparietal narrow, hexagonal; three supraoculars; a loreal; a row of small infraorbitals; temporal shields irregular; two pairs of large chin-shields, in contact, followed by a double row of transversely enlarged gulars. Nuchal scales large, transverse, in two rows, smooth. Coloration: bronze-brown above, with two whitish longitudinal bands; lower surfaces white. [SOURCE: Boulenger] |
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“Revision of the phylogeny and chorology of the tribe Iphisini with the revalidation of Colobosaura kraepelini Werner, 1910 (Reptilia, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae)”, Pier Cacciali, Nicolas Martinez, Günther Kohler. ZooKeys 669:89-105 (2017). Redescribes C. kraepelini as the original type specimen was lost.