Observations on the diet and field behavior of the iguanid lizard Corytophanes cristatus were made in Costa Rica and Panama. Stomach-content analyses show that this lizard is a specialist, feeding on extremely large arthropods. The average prey item is sufficiently large to provide more than the daily caloric requirement of a Corytophanes. The normal foraging behavior of C. cristatus appears to consist of brief and infrequent bouts of prey capture (bipedal dashes on the forest floor were observed) alternating with long periods of immobility. By eating arthropods which are large relative to its body size, C. cristatus minimizes conspicuous feeding activities and the associated risk of attracting the attention of predators. Such behavior is adaptive in tropical rainforests where lizards are under heavy predation pressure. THE ECOLOGY OF THE THREE SPECIES of Corytophanes is poorly known because these Central American and Mexican iguanids are infrequently encountered by biologists. Not only are population densities probably very low in most places (Andrews 1971; C. W. Myers, pers. comm.), but highly cryptic coloration and behavior (Davis 1953) make them appear to be much rarer still. Information about their habits is available mostly in collection records in faunal surveys (Taylor 1956, Alvarez del Toro 1960, Duellman 1963, Stuart 1948), but also from observations of a few individuals in captivity (Davis 1953, Ream 1965). Observations are presented here on diet and field behavior of Corytophanes cristatus (fig. 1) at Rincon de Osa, Puntarenas Prov., Costa Rica (tropical wet forest of Holdridge 1967), and on Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, and nearby sites in the Republic of Panama (tropical moist forest of Holdridge and Budowski 1956).
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Robin M. Andrews (1979) studied this question.