The Corytophanidae family of lizards is thought to have Euramerican and Laurasian ancestral beginnings, and is believed to have moved down to the tropics after the Eocene period cooling, approximately 33–56 million years ago.

It lives predominantly in trees, but also hunts on the forest floor where it uses leaf litter as a micro-habitat.

As indicated by its name, the smooth helmeted iguana has a prominent crest on its head, which tapers to a saw-tooth ridge down its back.

[8] The smooth helmeted iguana has been observed to remain motionless for extended periods of time.

It is thought that this behavior has resulted in its skin being used as a novel growing substrate for a species of fungus, Physarum pusillum.

There are no current conservation concerns for this species, although deforestation can be a localized threat to smooth helmeted iguana populations.