Rediscovery of the Altagracia Giant Galliwasp (Caribicus anelpistus) at Villa Altagracia, Dominican Republic

Abstract

W e herein report the rediscovery of the Altagracia Giant Galliwasp (Caribicus anelpistus) (Fig. 1) for the first time since its original description 44 years ago (Schwartz et al. 1979). The species is known from only a single location in a low-elevation humid forest, where it has been associated with the root systems of large trees (e.g., the Sandbox Tree, Hura crepitans). These semi-fossorial lizards feed on arthropods and terrestrial mollusks and are mainly active at night (Henderson 1988;Schwartz and Henderson 1991;Henderson and Powell 2009). Little else is known about the species' natural history.