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Distribution of Iguanidae
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- Taxonomy
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- Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Subclass: Lepidosauria
- Order: Squamata
- Suborder: Sauria
- Infraorder: Iguania
- Family: Iguanidae
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- I. Introduction
Iguanidae contains about 690 very varied
species, they are the New World counterparts of
Agamidae. There are 8
subfamilies, although it is debated by taxonomists whether some of these subfamilies should be
families of their own. There are also 8
genera not assigned to any subfamily (but sometimes considered in subfamily Iguaninae).
Iguanids vary greatly in colour, many species are gray, brown or black but green and blue are not uncommon. Many species are decorated with crests or spines, and brightly coloured
dewlaps for signalment are common. No
iguanid has
osteoderms, but scales are variable in size and shape. They have well-developed limbs that usually have five toes. Their eyes are moderately large compared to body size, and they have well-developed eyelids. They have a
pleurodont dentition (their teeth attach to the inner face of their jaws) and thick, fleshy, grooved-tipped tongues.
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- II. Members
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- Genera not assigned to a subfamily, also called subfamily Iguaninae:
Amblyrhyncus, Brachylophus, Conolophus, Ctenosaura, Cyclura, Dipsosaurus, Iguana, Sauromalus.
Subfamilies:
Corytophaninae (casque-headed lizards), Crotaphytinae (collared and leopard lizards), Hoplocercinae (clubtailed and wood lizards), Oplurinae (Madagascar iguanids), Phrynosomatinae (horned, earless, spiny, tree and side-blotched lizards), Polychrotinae (anoles) and Tropidurinae (neotropical ground lizards).
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- III. Further Information
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Last modified: Sunday, February 5, 2006 Sources:
- "EMBL Reptile Database." 2005. European Molecular Biology Laboratory. <http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/~uetz/LivingReptiles.html>
- Halliday, T and K. Adler. 2002. Firefly Encylopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. Firefly Books, Ltd.
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