St. Michel Curly-tailed Lizard (Leiocephalus anonymus)
The St. Michel Curly-tailed Lizard was described in 1984 based on subfossil bones that had been collected already 50 years prior from the deposits of an unspecified cave (or from more than one cave, it is not known) near Saint-Michel-de-l’Attalaye in the Département Artibonite in the western part of Haiti.
In life, the species must have reached a size of about 25 cm (including the tail). [1][2]
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It is not known if this species survived into post-European times (after 1492), it is, however, quite likely. [1]
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References:
[1] Gregory Pregill: An extinct species of Leiocephalus from Haiti (Sauria: Iguanidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 97(4): 827-833. 1984
[2] Gregory K. Pregill: Systematics of the West Indian Lizard Genus Leiocephalus (Squamata: Iguania: Tropiduridae). Miscellaneous Publications of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 84: 1-69. 1992
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Depiction from: ‘Gregory Pregill: An extinct species of Leiocephalus from Haiti (Sauria: Iguanidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 97(4): 827-833. 1984’
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edited: 08.09.2019