Mesoamericus
genus of reptiles
Mesoamericus bilobatus, also known commonly as O'Shaughnessy's galliwasp, is a species of lizard in the family Diploglossidae. The species is native to Central America.
Taxonomy
A 2021 study found M. bilobatus to not belong to the genus Diploglossus (which is otherwise only found in South America and the Caribbean), but rather to belong to the monotypic genus Mesoamericus in the subfamily Siderolamprinae.
Geographic range
M. bilobatus is found in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama.
Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of M. bilobatus is forest, at altitudes of 2–1,360 m (6.6–4,461.9 ft).
Description
M. bilobatus has sheathed claws, which Boulenger (1885) described as "claws nearly entirely concealed in a large compressed sheath formed of a larger supero-lateral and a smaller inferior scale".
Behavior
M. bilobatus is diurnal, terrestrial, and semifossorial.
Reproduction
M. bilobatus is oviparous.
References
Further reading
Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History).
“Mesoamericus” enters the record as genus of reptiles. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Mesoamericus, genus and reptiles can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Mesoamericus” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Mesoamericus, genus and reptiles provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q131519503. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2021 and 1885.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Mesoamericus” 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.