Lizard Diversity

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Dibamidae

  • oldest extant divergence of Squamata, having split around 215 million years ago
  • burrowing animals
    • there is skull tends to be more robust than that of other Squamata
  • contains 2 genera and 23 species
    • found in Mexico, and southeast Asia and New Guinea
    • distributed explained by Bering land bridge
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Gekkota

  • diverged around 205 million years ago, just before the Triassic
    • wide distribution explained by supercontinent
    • major split within Gekkota around 150 million years ago
  • all seven extant families appeared just the Cretaceous
    • contains 25% of all lizards
  • some geckos are known to farm planthoppers for honeydew
  • Pygopodoidea: a gecko superfamily which contains three Australasian families
    • Carphodactylidae: the knob-tailed geckos
    • Diplodactylidae: the stone geckos
    • Pygopodidae: the flap-footed geckos
  • Gekkonoidea: a gecko superfamily containing four families
    • Eublepharidae: the eyelid geckos
    • Sphaerodactylidae: the dwarf geckos
    • Phyllodactylidae: the leaf-toed geckos
    • Gekkonidae
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Scincomorpha

  • Scincomorpha: an infraorder and clade of lizards including skinks and  their close relatives, these include the girdled, plated, and night lizards
  • diverged around 190 million years ago
  • contains 28% of all lizard species, in four families
  • Scincidae: the skinks
  • Xantusiidae: the night lizards
  • Gerrhosauridae: the plated lizards
  • Cordylidae: the girdled lizards
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Lacertoidae

  • no morphological synapomorphies
  • diverged 185 million years ago
  • contains 9 families
  • Amphisbaenia: worm lizards
    • Bipedidae: the mole limbed worm lizards (monogeneric)
    • Cadeidae: Cuban worm lizards (monogeneric)
    • Blanidae: Mediterranean worm lizards (monogeneric)
    • Troganophidae: spade-headed worm lizards
    • Amphisbaenidae: the common worm lizards
    • Rhineuridae: the Florida worm lizard (monospecific) 
  • Teiidae: whiptails, tegus, etc. 
  • Gymnophthalmidae: microteiids, also known as the spectacled lizards 
  • Lacertidae: the wall lizards 
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Toxicofera: Anguimorpha

  • Toxicofera: a clade of scaled reptiles that includes Serpentes, Anguimorpha, and Iguania
    • ANGUIMORPHA
      • Anguidae: the alligator lizards, glass lizards, and allies 
      • Anniellidae: the California legless lizards (monogeneric)
      • Diploglossidae: the galliwasps and South American glass lizards
      • Helodermatidae: the beaded lizards (monogeneric)
      • Lanthotidae: the earless monitor (monospecific)
      • Shinisauridae: the Chinese crocodile lizard (monospecific)
      • Varanidae: the monitor and goannas (monogeneric)
      • Xenosauridae: the knob-scaled lizards (monogeneric)
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Toxicofera: Iguania

  • IGUANIA:
    • Acrodonta
      • Chamaeleonidae: the chameleons
      • Agamidae: the angleheads, calotes, dragon lizards, and allies 
    • Pleurodonta
      • Corytophanidae: the casque-head or helmeted lizards
      • Crotaphytidae: the collared or leopard lizards
      • Dactyloidae: the true anoles (monogeneric)
      • Hoplocercidae: the wood and spiny-tailed lizards
      • Iguanidae: the true iguanas
      • Leiocephalidae: the curly-tailed lizards (monogeneric
      • Leiosauridae: the leiosaurs 
      • Liolaemidae: snow swifts and tree iguanas
      • Opluridae: the three-eyed lizards and the Madagascan swifts
      • Phrynosomatidae: the North American spiny lizards
      • Polychrotidae: the bush anoles (monogeneric)
      • Tropiduridae: the lava lizards/neotropical ground lizards
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