#1666 · 🦎 reptiles

Argentine Black-and-white Tegu

Salvator merianae

LCleast concern 🦎 Reptiles 📍 outside Europe

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Allan Hopkins · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
2. © Julieta Ameglio · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Bruno Henrique Aranda · CC BY 4.0
4. © lrech · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
5. © Guilherme Pires Martins Vieira · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Hugo Hulsberg · CC0
7. © Gonzalo Diaz · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © Gabriela F. Ruellan · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
9. © Linda De Volder · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
10. © joseluisblazquez · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The Argentine black and white tegu ( Salvator merianae ), also called commonly the Argentine giant tegu , the black and white tegu , the huge tegu , and in Spanish as the lagarto overo is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is the largest of the "tegu lizards". It is an omnivorous species which inhabits the tropical rain forests, savannas, and semi-deserts of eastern and central South America.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 13,511iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
13,511 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by André Marie Constant Duméril in 1839 (187 years ago).