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| + | |
| + | ==Families== |
| + | |
| + | ===Agamidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Family of lizards of the old world |
| + | * Acrodont dentition |
| + | * Includes the agama (Agama agama), frilled lizard (Chamydosaurus kingii), water dragon (Psysignathus cocincinus), Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx aegyptius) and the sail-fin lizard (Hydrosaurus pustulatus) |
| + | |
| + | ===Iguanidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Family of lizards in the new world and a few species in the Indian Ocean region |
| + | * Pleurodont dentition |
| + | * Includes the green iguana (Iguana iguana), the green anole (Anolis carolinensis), basilisks (Basiliscus spp.), horned lizards (Phrynosoma spp.) spiny lizards (Sceloporus spp.) and West Indian rock iguanas (Cyclura spp.) |
| + | |
| + | ===Chamaeleontidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Old world or true chameleons |
| + | * Anatomical differences from other lizards may include astonishingly long tongues, ability for colour change, oppositely opposable digits and prehensile tails. |
| + | * Generally viviparous |
| + | |
| + | ===Gekkonidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Geckos |
| + | * Large and diverse family which have colonised all tropical areas and extended into temperature regions |
| + | * Primarily nocturnal insectivores |
| + | * Anatomical differences from other lizards may include toe-pads, eyelids that have fused and are transparent as in snakes and eyes that move independently and are usually large |
| + | * When subjected to daylight the pupils contract to a narrow slit with a series of pinholes |
| + | * Generally oviparous with one to two eggs laid but some are viviparous |
| + | * Three subfamilies are Eublepharine (no toe-pads), Sphaerodactylinae and Gekkoninae |
| + | * Includes the commonly kept leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) |
| + | |
| + | ===Pygopodidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Includes snake lizards (Lialis spp.) and the scalyfoot (Pygopus spp.) which are without forelimbs and their hindlimbs are reduced to flaps of skin |
| + | |
| + | ===Lacertidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Wall or sand lizards of the old world |
| + | * Insectivorous |
| + | * All oviparous except the viviparous lizard (Lacerta vivapara) |
| + | * Includes the oscellated green lizard (Lacerta lepida), rock lizard (Lacerta saxicola) |
| + | |
| + | ===Teiidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * New world equivalents of the Lacertidae |
| + | * The smaller are insectivorous and the larger carnivorous |
| + | * Includes the whiptails and racerunners (Cnemidophorus spp.), jungle runners (Ameiva spp.) and tegus (Tupinambis spp.) |
| + | |
| + | ===Xantusiidae=== |
| + | * Desert night lizards |
| + | * Xantusia spp. |
| + | |
| + | ===Scincidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * True skinks |
| + | * Little sexual dimorphism |
| + | * Includes the blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua spp.), prehensile-tailed skink (Corucia zebrata), five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus) and the casqueheads (Tribolonotus spp.) |
| + | |
| + | ===Cordylidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Zonures or girdle-tailed lizards |
| + | * All require very hot, dry conditions |
| + | * Includes Cordylus spp. |
| + | |
| + | ===Dibamidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Blind lizards |
| + | * Dibamus and Anelytropsis spp. |
| + | |
| + | ===Xenosauridae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Consists of the Chinese crocodile-tailed lizard (Shinisaurus crocodiluris) and the new world xenosaurs (Xenosaurus spp.) |
| + | |
| + | ===Anguidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Long and snake-like in form |
| + | * In America, Asia, Africa and Europe but species are not numerous |
| + | * Both oviparous and viviparous species, both diurnal and nocturnal species and generally terrestrial |
| + | * Insectivorous or carnivorous |
| + | * Includes slow-worm (Anguis fragilis), alligator lizards (Elgaria spp.), glass lizards (Ophisaurus spp.) legless lizards (Annelia spp.) and the sheltopusik (Ophisaurus apodus) |
| + | |
| + | ===Helodermatidae=== |
| + | * Two species that are the only venomous lizards |
| + | * Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) and the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) |
| + | |
| + | ===Varanidae=== |
| + | * Monitor lizards |
| + | * Mostly large powerful predators or carrion eaters |
| + | * Includes the savannah monitor (Varanus exanthematicus), Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) and the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) |
| + | |
| + | ===Lanthanotidae=== |
| + | |
| + | * Monotypic family |
| + | * The Bornean earless lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis) |
| + | |
| + | |
| + | |
| [[Category:Lizard_Taxonomy]] | | [[Category:Lizard_Taxonomy]] |