THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Teiidae  

Argentine Giant Tegu
Salvator merianae (Duméril and Bibron, 1839)

Current SSAR Comments:
Native to Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. It was introduced via the pet trade in Washington (Freeman, 2024, The Seattle Times. 21 July) and is established in Florida (Smith and Krysko, 2007, Caribbean Journal of Science 43: 260–265; Krysko et al., 2011, Zootaxa 3028: 1–64; Enge, 2019, Salvator merianae. Pages 434–436 in Krysko et al. (Editors) Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida), Georgia (Haro et al., 2020, Southeastern Naturalist 19: 649–662), and possibly South Carolina (Haro et al. op. cit.).

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.21.22)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.13 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Pertinent LIterature:
1839 Dumeril, A. M. Constant and Gabriel Bibron. Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete Des Reptiles. Tome Cinquieme. [General Herpetology or Complete Natural History of Reptiles. Volume Fifth.] Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, France. 854pp.
2007 Smith, Catherine A. and Krysko, Kenneth L. Distributional comments on the Teiid Lizards (Squamata: Teiidae) of Florida with a key to species. Caribbean Journal of Science 43(2):260-265
2011 Krysko, Kenneth L., Joseph P. Burgess, Michael R. Rochford, Christopher R. Gillette, Daniel Cueva, Kevin M. Enge, Louis A. Somma, Jennifer L. Stabile, Dustin C. Smith, Joseph A. Wasilewski, Guy N. Kieckhefer III, Michael C. Granatosky & Stuart V. Nielsen. Verified non-indigenous amphibians and reptiles in Florida from 1863 through 2010: Outlining the invasion process and identifying invasion pathways and stages. Zootaxa 3028(1):1-64
2020 Haro, Daniel, Lance D. McBrayer, John B. Jensen, James M. Gillis, Lea' R. Bonewell, Melia G. Nafus, Stephen E. Greiman, Robert N. Reed, and Amy A. Yackel Adams. Evidence for an established population of Tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) in southeastern Georgia, USA. Southeastern Naturalist 19(4):649-662

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Tuesday 04 February 2025 21:57 CT