Etymologies of Caribbean reptiles

With more than 7000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays, the Greater Caribbean is a mega-biodiverse region with 34 currently recognized families, 131 genera, 850 species, and 484 subspecies of reptiles. Herein we resolve the etymologies of their names. The names of most genera (102 of 131) are derived from Greek words whereas those of most species (356 of 850) are from Latin stems. We also found 358 eponyms (named after people) (3 genera, 236 species, and 119 subspecies) and 263 toponyms (named after places) (11 genera, 145 species, and 107 subspecies). Relatively few taxa were named after other sources such as local names or mythological figures. Given that many authors did not explain their names, we also present about 20 names with unclear etymologies, although we offer speculations about their origins and present plausible hypotheses for them.