biology

Navassa curly-tailed lizard

Navassa curly-tailed lizard is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Navassa curly-tailed lizard rather than just read about it. In short: The Navassa curly-tailed lizard or Navassa curlytail lizard (Leiocephalus eremitus) is an extinct lizard species from the family of curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalidae). It is known only from the holotype, a female specimen from which it was described in 1868.

Key takeaways

Navassa curly-tailed lizard belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Navassa curly-tailed lizard to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Navassa curly-tailed lizard from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Navassa curly-tailed lizard or Navassa curlytail lizard (Leiocephalus eremitus) is an extinct lizard species from the family of curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalidae). It is known only from the holotype, a female specimen from which it was described in 1868. A possible second specimen which was collected by Rollo Beck in 1917 was instead identified as a Tiburon curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus melanochlorus) by herpetologist Richard Thomas in 1966.

Geographic range Leiocephalus eremitus was endemic to Navassa Island.

Description The size of the holotype is given as 64 mm (2+1⁄2 in) snout–vent length (SVL). The head and ventral scales are smooth. The dorsal scales are larger than the scales on the flanks and the ventral scales. The dorsum is dark gray with nine dark transverse bars. The tail is pale with transverse bars on the basal half and uniformly dark gray to black on the posterior half. Throat, breast, belly and the extremities are brown with pale-tipped scales.

Behavior and habitat Navassa has xeric forest vegetation, but nothing specific is known about biology of this species. The reason for its extinction is also unknown, but predation by cats is a possible reason.

References

Schwartz, A., and R.W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1049-7. Powell, R. 1999. Herpetology of Navassa Island, West Indies. Caribbean J. Sci. 35 (1-2): 1-13. PDF fulltext

Further reading Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. Iguanidæ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers.) xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I.- XXIV. (Liocephalus [sic] eremitus, p. 165.) Cope, E.D. 1868. An Examination of the REPTILIA and BATRACHIA obtained by the Orton Expedition to Equador [sic] and the Upper Amazon, with notes on other Species. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 20: 96-140. (Liocephalus [sic] eremitus, sp.nov., p. 122.) Schwartz, A., and R. Thomas. 1975. A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (Leiocephalus eremitus, p. 129.) Thomas, R. 1966. A reassessment of the herpetofauna of Navassa Island. J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc. 5: 73-89. (Leiocephalus eremitus, p. 80.)

External links Photograph of the holotype

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Navassa curly-tailed lizard

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Navassa curly-tailed lizard claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Navassa curly-tailed lizard before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Navassa curly-tailed lizard ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Navassa curly-tailed lizard

In research: Navassa curly-tailed lizard appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Navassa curly-tailed lizard in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Navassa curly-tailed lizard is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Endemic fauna of Navassa Island, Extinct animals of Haiti, Extinct animals of the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Navassa curly-tailed lizard outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Navassa curly-tailed lizard” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Navassa curly-tailed lizard in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Navassa curly-tailed lizard means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Navassa curly-tailed lizard out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Navassa curly-tailed lizard in simple terms?

Why does Navassa curly-tailed lizard matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Navassa curly-tailed lizard?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Navassa curly-tailed lizard.