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