Cercosaura argula — Elegant Eyed Lizard
This species was formerly placed in the genus Prionodactylus. Some references show two extremely similar species in this area, C. argula and C. oshaughnessyi. On my website I'm following the online Reptile Database, which treats the two species as synonyms.

Some references use the Latin name argulus, which was grammatically appropriate when the genus was Prionodactylus. Recently it has been updated to argula to appropriately match the gender of Cercosaura.

Madre Selva Biological Station, Loreto, Peru—January 13, 2013
Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula)
These furtive little ground-dwelling lizards are easier to see clearly when they are napping on leaves at night.

Here is a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2013 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.

Madre Selva Biological Station, Loreto, Peru—January 15, 2013
Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula)
By day I could usually only get a quick glimpse before the lizard would vanish into the leaf litter.
Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, Loreto, Peru—January 21, 2014
Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula)
This one held its pose for at least a minute. Not the best angle, but good enough to (barely) observe the white facial stripe and row of pretty dots along the side that help to identify the species.

Here is a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2014 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.

Manatee Rescue Center, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru—January 30, 2016
Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula)
Amazonian Manatees are really cute, being smaller than Florida manatees but having basically the same big blobby cute shape. And the wild lizards living at the Manatee Rescue Center in Iquitos are pretty cute too.

My Travelogues and Trip Lists page includes a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2016 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.

Madre Selva Biological Station, Loreto, Peru—February 4, 2016
Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula)
Males like this one have very prominent "ocelli" (eye-like markings) on their sides. Females have significantly less visible side-dots.
Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, Loreto, Peru—February 9, 2016
Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula) Elegant Eyed Lizard (Cercosaura argula)
This one is a female, with dots on her side that are visible but much less obvious than on the male pictured above. In the first photo here you can see her black-and-white forked tongue. We watched her poking around in the leaves, periodically extending her tongue, looking like a little tiny monitor lizard.
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