Highest-living lizard

The highest altitude recorded for a lizard is the Theobald’s toad-headed agama (Phrynocephalus theobaldi), which has been documented at 3,850 metres (12,631 feet) above sea level in Nepal, but as high as 5,200 metres (17,060 feet) on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, and at between 5,300 and 5,400 metres (17,388–17,716 feet) in western Tibet.

In central Mexico the trans-volcanic bunchgrass lizard (Sceloporus bicanthalis) has been recorded up to 4,000 metres (13,123 feet) asl. (ANDREWS, 1998) and the graphic spiny lizard (S. grammicus) has been documented at 4,400 metres (14,435 feet) asl. (LEMOS-ESPINAL & BALLINGER, 1995).

Several Andean lizards of the genus Liolaemus also occur over 4,000 metres (13,123 feet) asl. The eastern rock iguanid (Liolaemus orientalis) reaches 4,300 metres (14,107 feet), and possibly up to 5,000 metres (16,404 feet), while the many-coloured tree iguanid (L. multicolor) and Dorbigny’s tree iguanid (L. dorbignyi) both occur up to 4,400 metres (14,435 feet), and the Andean tree iguanid (L. andinus) is found as high as 4,700 metres (15,419 feet) asl. (SCHULTE et al., 2000).