TheLacertidaeare thefamilyof thewall lizards,true lizards,or sometimes simplylacertas,which are native toAfro-Eurasia.It is a diverse family with at about 360speciesin 39genera.They represent the dominant group of reptiles found in Europe.
| Lacertids Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Sand lizard(Lacerta agilis) | |
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Superfamily: | Lacertoidea |
| Family: | Lacertidae Oppel,1811 |
| Type species | |
| Lacerta agilis | |
| Subgroups | |
|
Seetext | |
Phoenicolacerta troodica
Habitat
editThe European and Mediterranean species of lacertids live mainly inforestandscrubhabitats.[1]EremiasandOphisopsspecies replace these in thegrasslandanddeserthabitatsof Asia. African species usually live in rocky, arid areas.Holaspisspecies are among the fewarboreallacertids, and its two species,Holaspis guentheriandHolaspis laevis,are gliders (although apparently poor ones), using their broad tail and flattened body as anaerofoil.[2]
Description
editLacertids are small to medium-sized lizards. Most species are less than 9cm long, excluding the tail. The largest living species,Gallotia stehlini,reaches 46cm, and some extinct forms were larger still. They are primarilyinsectivorous.[1]An exception isMeroles anchietae,one of the few wall lizards that regularly eatseeds– an appropriate food for a lizard of the harshNamib Desert.[clarification needed]
Lacertids are remarkably similar in form, with slender bodies and longtails,but have highly varied patterns and colours, even within the same species. Their scales are large on the head, which often also hasosteoderms,small and granular on the back, and rectangular on the underside. Most species aresexually dimorphic,with the males and females having different patterns.[1]
At least eight species from theCaucasusareparthenogenetic,[3][4]and three species give birth to live young, including theviviparouslizard,Zootoca vivipara.[1]
Evolutionary history
editLacertids are suspected to have originated in Europe, due to their earliest fossils being found in the region, alongside those of theirsister group,the extinctEolacertidae.[5]Fossils possibly attributable to lacertids are known from thePaleoceneof France and Belgium. The oldest definitive lacertid is known from the earlyEocene(Ypresian) inMutigny,France in theParis Basin.[6]Lacertids dispersed into Asia by the earlyOligocene.[7]The timing of the colonisation of Africa is uncertain, ranging from the Eocene to theMiocene.[8]
Classification
editThe classification into subfamilies and tribes below follows one presented by Arnoldet al.,2007, based on theirphylogeneticanalysis.[9]
Family Lacertidae
- Subfamily Gallotiinae
- GenusGallotia(8 species)
- GenusPsammodromus(8 species)
- Subfamily Lacertinae
- Tribe Eremiadini
- GenusAcanthodactylus(45 species)
- GenusAdolfus(6 species)
- GenusAustralolacerta(1 species)
- GenusCongolacerta(2 species)
- GenusEremias(42 species)
- GenusGastropholis(4 species)
- GenusHeliobolus(6 species)
- GenusHolaspis(2 species)
- GenusIchnotropis(6 species)
- GenusLatastia(10 species)
- GenusMeroles(8 species)
- GenusMesalina(20 species)
- GenusNucras(13 species)
- GenusOphisops(11 species)
- GenusPedioplanis(16 species)
- GenusPhilochortus(7 species)
- GenusPoromera(1 species)
- GenusPseuderemias(7 species)
- GenusTropidosaura(4 species)
- Tribe Lacertini
- GenusAlgyroides(4 species)
- GenusAnatololacerta(4 species)
- GenusApathya(2 species)
- GenusArchaeolacerta(1 species)
- GenusAtlantolacerta(1 species)
- GenusDalmatolacerta(1 species)
- GenusDarevskia(35 species)
- GenusDinarolacerta(2 species)
- GenusHellenolacerta(1 species)
- GenusIberolacerta(8 species)
- GenusIranolacerta(2 species)
- GenusLacerta(10 species)
- GenusOmanosaura(2 species)
- GenusParvilacerta(2 species)
- GenusPhoenicolacerta(4 species)
- GenusPodarcis(26 species)
- GenusScelarcis(1 species)
- GenusTakydromus(24 species)
- GenusTeira(1 species)
- GenusTimon(6 species)
- GenusVhembelacerta(1 species)
- GenusZootoca(2 species)
- Tribe Eremiadini
The latest extensive phylogenetic lacertid tree was made by Baeckenset al.in 2015.[10]
Extinct genera
edit- †SuccinilacertaBaltic amber,Eocene
- †PlesiolacertaEurope, Eocene-Oligocene
- †DracaenosaurusFrance, Oligocene
- †MaioricalacertaMallorca,Pliocene
- †QuercycertaFrance, Eocene
- †JanosikiaGermany, Miocene
- †EscampcertaFrance, Eocene
- †MediolacertaFrance, Germany, Oligocene
- †PseudeumecesFrance, Germany, Spain, Oligocene-Miocene
- †AmblyolacertaFrance, Czech Republic, Miocene
- †LigerosaurusFrance, Miocene
- †MiolacertaGermany, Austria, Czech Republic, Oligocene-Miocene
- †EdlartetiaAugé and Rage 2000 Germany, France Austria, Miocene
- †EscampcertaFrance, Eocene
- †Cernaycerta?France, Paleocene (questioned by some authors)[6]
- †DormaalisaurusFrance, Belgium, Spain, Eocene
References
edit- ^abcdBauer, Aaron M. (1998). Cogger, H.G.; Zweifel, R.G. (eds.).Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians.San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 163–165.ISBN978-0-12-178560-4.
- ^Zug, George R. (2001).Herpetology: an introductory biology of amphibians and reptiles.Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell (2nd ed.). San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press.ISBN0-12-782622-X.OCLC47145828.
- ^Darevskii IS. 1967. Rock lizards of the Caucasus: systematics, ecology and phylogenesis of the polymorphic groups of Caucasian rock lizards of the subgenusArchaeolacerta.Nauka: Leningrad [in Russian: English translation published by the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, New Delhi, 1978].
- ^Tarkhnishvili DN (2012) Evolutionary History, Habitats, Diversification, and Speciation in Caucasian Rock Lizards. In: Advances in Zoology Research, Volume 2 (ed. Jenkins OP), Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge (NY), p.79-120
- ^Čerňanský, Andrej; Smith, Krister T. (2017-05-24)."Eolacertidae: a new extinct clade of lizards from the Palaeogene; with comments on the origin of the dominant European reptile group – Lacertidae".Historical Biology.30(7): 994–1014.doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1327530.ISSN0891-2963.S2CID49546941.
- ^abČerňanský, Andrej; Augé, Marc Louis; Phelizon, Alain (2020-01-02)."Dawn of Lacertids (Squamata, Lacertidae): New Finds from the Upper Paleocene and the Lower Eocene".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.40(1): e1768539.Bibcode:2020JVPal..40E8539C.doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1768539.ISSN0272-4634.S2CID221749442.
- ^Čerňanský, Andrej; Augé, Marc Louis (2019-12-12)."The Oligocene and Miocene fossil lizards (Reptilia, Squamata) of Central Mongolia".Geodiversitas.41(1): 811.doi:10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a24.ISSN1280-9659.
- ^Tamar, Karin; Carranza, Salvador; Sindaco, Roberto; Moravec, Jiří; Trape, Jean-François; Meiri, Shai (October 2016)."Out of Africa: Phylogeny and biogeography of the widespread genus Acanthodactylus (Reptilia: Lacertidae)".Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.103:6–18.doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.07.003.ISSN1055-7903.PMID27395778.
- ^Arnold, E. Nicholas; Arribas, Oscar; Carranza, Salvador (2007).Systematics of the Palaearctic and Oriental lizard tribe Lacertini (Squamata: Lacertidae: Lacertinae), with descriptions of eight new genera(PDF).Vol. 1430. pp. 1–86.doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1430.1.1.ISBN978-1-86977-097-6.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 February 2019.Retrieved12 July2017.
{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help) - ^Baeckens, Simon (January 2015)."Chemical signalling in lizards: an interspecific comparison of femoral pore numbers in Lacertidae".Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.114:44–57.doi:10.1111/bij.12414.hdl:10067/1205040151162165141.
External links
edit
