Basilisks, such as the real species Basiliscus plumifrons shown here, can run short distances across water.
Basiliscus amoratus is a fictional basilisk lizard invented by Michael Crichton in the Jurassic Park novel.
Martin "Marty" Guitierrez 'identifies' the lizard (actually a Procompsognathus) that attacked Tina Bowman as a Basiliscus amoratus.
According to Dr. Guitierrez, the lizard can be found in Costa Rica and also in Honduras. It occasionally walks or runs on its hind legs and it is not poisonous, though, like all reptiles, its saliva can induce a very painful allergic reaction.
Basiliscus is a genus of lizards. Four species are documented so far :
- Common basilisk, Basiliscus basiliscus
- Red-headed basilisk, Basiliscus galeritus
- Plumed basilisk, Basiliscus plumifrons
- Striped or Brown basilisk, Basiliscus vittatus
No species named Basiliscus amoratus is documented yet. But basilisks can sometimes run bipedally, as the novel implied. Their stance, however, would be very different to that of a habitual biped such as a theropod dinosaur, and (as the novel makes clear) there are other differences like the number of toes and length of neck and tail.