The Mexican Bearded lizard is also known by the name Banded lizard. Also known as the West African Monitor lizard, it is a medium-sized lizard that is considered to be a good medium danger for hunters in the wild. Because of this reason, the Mexican beaded lizard has been protected in many parts of Mexico. This lizard is known to inhabit Central Mexico and South America.
The Mexican beaded lizard is a small, nocturnal mammal that is easily camouflaged. It is primarily found in areas rich in woodlands or swamps where trees grow very tall. The skin is usually made up of beaded scales known as osteodermata that contain pieces of lizard bone, thus providing the beaded lizards’ armor.
Unlike most reptiles, the Mexican beaded lizard does not have an appendix. This is one reason why the lizard is considered to be a nocturnal animal. Also, because of their small size (between two and three inches long, including legs), they are seldom seen by humans.
The species generally known as the Mexican beaded lizards are generally distributed across the central and south American regions. They also occur in central Mexico and in Guativa. There are some documented cases in the west and Pacific northwest.
There is much information about the snake, which is the most threatening lizards in the world. In addition, there are three other nocturnal but venomous species found in the wilds of Mexico and Central America. These include the Giant Mountain Spider, Ceramic Mosaic Spider, and the Southern Carrot Spider. All of these species are venomous, with the Giant Mountain Spider being the most dangerous to humans, especially those who are highly allergic. Ceramic Mosaic Spider, on the other hand, has only been reported to cause skin irritation in humans.
Like many other species in the genus Vrogulfis, the beaded lizard is widely distributed across the country and its range extends from Texas southward all the way to the upper reaches of the Amazon River Basin. There are two types of this lizard: the western pied and the red-headed variety. The red-headed species has been known to inhabit the Sonora region of Mexico up to the drier regions of Chiapas. The smallest of the three, the Mexican beaded lizard, is only two to three inches long.
The most recently described Mexican beaded lizard is the Mexican horridum. This is the third most reported species in captivity and is known to occur in two different color morphs: a greenish-black figure and a red-headed, orange-red figure. The most distinguishing feature of the horrid is its red eyes. While the red-headed Mexican horridum is found only in the Sonoran Desert of southwest Mexico, the red-headed variety is known to occur in the central and northern parts of Chiapas. The specimens that were photographed in the Horridum National Park were believed to be a part of this species: they were part of a study conducted in the area by ornithologists Ymar, Jara and Escalera.
The last subspecies in this family, the brown-headed jeweler’s beaded lizard, is only found in the Puebla and Riviera Nayarit jungles in Mexico. Its precise biological and physical description and molecular study have so far been very limited. It is considered to be a subspecies of the red headed jeweler’s beaded lizard, except that it does not have red eyes. During the last decade, reports of its presence in the wild started to increase in the Puebla and Riviera Nayarit jungles. There is also some chance that the leather back subspecies could soon gain recognition in Mexico, after which it will probably be considered a distinct species.
