CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Science & Nature

Saint Lucia whiptail

species of reptile

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ2711686
Source-derived summary

The Saint Lucia whiptail (Cnemidophorus vanzoi), also known commonly as the Maria Islands whiptail, the Saint Lucian whiptail, and Vanzo's whiptail, is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is indigenous to the Caribbean.

Geographic range

C. vanzoi is endemic to Saint Lucia, where it has been extirpated from the main island and is now only native to the small islets of Maria Major and Maria Minor, with fewer than 1,000 individuals estimated. A third population has been established on nearby Praslin Island through translocation.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of C. vanzoi are forest and shrubland.

Reproduction

C. vanzoi is oviparous.

Etymology

The specific name, vanzoi, is in honor of Brazilian herpetologist Paulo Vanzolini.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Saint Lucia whiptail” is species of reptile. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Saint, Lucia and whiptail, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current 118-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Saint, Lucia and whiptail is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of reptile” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2711686. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Saint Lucia whiptail”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Saint Lucia whiptail primary sources, Saint Lucia whiptail archive and Saint research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Saint Lucia whiptail”?
  2. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Saint Lucia whiptail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.