Kingdom Animalia Family Hoplocercidae Scientific name Morunasaurus groi Rank Species | Class Reptilia Genus Morunasaurus Phylum Chordata Order Scaled reptiles | |
Similar Morunasaurus, Blue‑spotted wood lizard, Scaled reptiles, Enyalioides heterolepis, Anolis vittigerus | ||
Dunn's spinytail lizard (Morunasaurus groi) is a hoplocercid lizard found in northwestern South America and Panama. Its tail is covered with small spines. Males are reddish-brown with dark brown transverse bands across the back, reaching to the middle of the sides and then breaking up into small, irregular dark spots. Small white spots occur between the dark bands above the first longitudinal row of tubercles. The neck is red, with an incomplete white collar three to five scales wide, extending somewhat obliquely from just ahead of the forearm upward to the scapular region; the collar is edged on both sides by dark brown. The head is reddish and the chin and infralabial region scarlet red. The gular area is dark grayish-brown, the chest is pale chrome orange, and the belly is dirty white. Adult females are essentially the same color, lacking the scarlet red in the infralabial region, and the belly is yellow.
They live in burrows they excavate themselves, especially under fallen logs.