Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 6,000 species,[1] ranging across all continents except
Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic as it excludes the snakes and Lizards
Amphisbaenia; some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Temporal range: Early Jurassic –
Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3 meter long Komodo dragon. Holocene, 199–0 Ma

Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Others are legless, and have long snake-like PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K PgN
bodies. Some such as the forest-dwelling Draco lizards are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting Possible Late Triassic record
off other males and signalling, often with brightly colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly
carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals as
big as water buffalo.

Lizards make use of a variety of antipredator adaptations, including venom, camouflage, reflex bleeding, and the
ability to sacrifice and regrow their tails.

Contents
Anatomy
Largest and smallest
Distinguishing features Clockwise from top left: veiled

Physiology chameleon (Chamaeleo

Locomotion calyptratus), rock monitor (Varanus
Senses albigularis), common blue-tongued
Venom skink (Tiliqua scincoides), Italian
Respiration wall lizard (Podarcis sicula), giant
Reproduction and lifecycle leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus
Behaviour fimbriatus), and legless lizard
Diurnality and thermoregulation (Anelytropsis papillosus)
Territoriality
Communication Scientific classification

Ecology Kingdom: Animalia

Distribution and habitat Phylum: Chordata
Diet
Class: Reptilia
Antipredator adaptations
Camouflage Superorder: Lepidosauria
Autotomy Order: Squamata
Escape, playing dead, reflex bleeding
Groups included
Evolution
Fossil history Anguimorpha
Phylogeny Gekkota
External
Iguania
Internal
Lacertoidea
Taxonomy
Scincomorpha
Convergence
Relationship with humans
Notes
References
General sources
Further reading
External links Range of the lizards, all species

Many, see text

Anatomy
Legless squamates that are
not considered lizards
Largest and smallest
Serpentes
The adult length of species within the suborder ranges from a few centimeters for chameleons such as Brookesia
micra and geckos such as Sphaerodactylus ariasae[2] to nearly 3 m (10 ft) in the case of the largest living varanid Amphisbaenia
lizard, the Komodo dragon.[3] Most lizards are fairly small animals.
Synonyms
Distinguishing features Sauria Macartney, 1802

Lizards typically have rounded torsos, elevated heads on short

necks, four limbs and long tails, although some are legless.[4]
Lizards and snakes share a movable quadrate bone,
distinguishing them from the rhynchocephalians, which have
more rigid diapsid skulls.[5] Some lizards such as chameleons
have prehensile tails, assisting them in climbing among
vegetation.[6]

As in other reptiles, the skin of lizards is covered in overlapping

Skin of Lacerta agilis, showing
scales made of keratin. This provides protection from the
overlapping scales made of keratin
environment and reduces water loss through evaporation. This
adaptation enables lizards to thrive in some of the driest deserts
A young Mediterranean House Gecko in the
on earth. The skin is tough and leathery, and is shed (sloughed)
process of moulting.
as the animal grows. Unlike snakes which shed the skin in a single piece, lizards slough their skin in
several pieces. The scales may be modified into spines for display or protection, and some species have
bone osteoderms underneath the scales.[6][7]

The dentitions of lizards reflect their wide range of diets, including carnivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous,
herbivorous, nectivorous, and molluscivorous. Species typically have uniform teeth suited to their diet, but several
species have variable teeth, such as cutting teeth in the front of the jaws and crushing teeth in the rear. Most species
are pleurodont, though agamids and chameleons are acrodont.[8][6]

The tongue can be extended outside the mouth, and is often long. In the beaded lizards, whiptails and monitor lizards,
the tongue is forked and used mainly or exclusively to sense the environment, continually flicking out to sample the
environment, and back to transfer molecules to the vomeronasal organ responsible for chemosensation, analogous to
but different from smell or taste. In geckos, the tongue is used to lick the eyes clean: they have no eyelids.
Chameleons have very long sticky tongues which can be extended rapidly to catch their insect prey.[6]
Red tegu (Tupinambis rufescens)
skull, showing teeth of differing types
Three lineages, the geckos, anoles, and chameleons, have modified the scales under their toes to form adhesive pads,
highly prominent in the first two groups. The pads are composed of millions of tiny setae (hair-like structures) which
fit closely to the substrate to adhere using van der Waals forces; no liquid adhesive is needed.[9] In addition, the toes
of chameleons are divided into two opposed groups on each foot (zygodactyly), enabling them to perch on branches as birds do.[a][6]

Physiology

Locomotion

Aside from legless lizards, most lizards are quadrupedal and move using gaits with alternating movement of the right and left
limbs with substantial body bending. This body bending prevents significant respiration during movement, limiting their
endurance, in a mechanism called Carrier's constraint. Several species can run bipedally,[10] and a few can prop themselves
up on their hindlimbs and tail while stationary. Several small species such as those in the genus Draco can glide: some can
attain a distance of 60 metres (200 feet), losing 10 metres (33 feet) in height.[11] Some species, like geckos and chameleons,
adhere to vertical surfaces including glass and ceilings.[9] Some species, like the common basilisk, can run across water.[12]

Senses
Adhesive pads enable
Lizards make use of their senses of sight, touch, olfaction and hearing like other vertebrates. The balance of these varies with geckos to climb vertically.
the habitat of different species; for instance, skinks that live largely covered by loose soil rely heavily on olfaction and touch,
while geckos depend largely on acute vision for their ability to hunt and to evaluate the distance to their prey before striking.
Monitor lizards have acute vision, hearing, and olfactory senses. Some lizards make unusual use of their sense organs: chameleons can steer their eyes in
different directions, sometimes providing non-overlapping fields of view, such as forwards and backwards at once. Lizards lack external ears, having instead a
circular opening in which the tympanic membrane (eardrum) can be seen. Many species rely on hearing for early warning of predators, and flee at the
slightest sound.[13]

As in snakes and many mammals, all lizards have a specialised olfactory system, the vomeronasal organ, used to
detect pheromones. Monitor lizards transfer scent from the tip of their tongue to the organ; the tongue is used only for
this information-gathering purpose, and is not involved in manipulating food.[14][13]

Some lizards, particularly iguanas, have retained a photosensory organ on the top of their heads called the parietal
eye, a basal ("primitive") feature also present in the tuatara. This "eye" has only a rudimentary retina and lens and
cannot form images, but is sensitive to changes in light and dark and can detect movement. This helps them detect
predators stalking it from above.[15]
Nile monitor using its tongue for
smell
Venom

Until 2006 it was thought that the Gila monster and the Mexican beaded lizard were the only venomous lizards.
However, several species of monitor lizards, including the Komodo dragon, produce powerful venom in their oral glands. Lace monitor venom, for instance,
causes swift loss of consciousness and extensive bleeding through its pharmacological effects, both lowering blood pressure and preventing blood clotting.
 Nine classes of toxin known from snakes are produced by lizards. The range
of actions provides the potential for new medicinal drugs based on lizard
venom proteins.[16][17]

Some lizards including the gila
monster are venomous.
question may thus be evolutionary precursors of venom genes.[18]
Genes associated with venom toxins have been found in the salivary glands
on a wide range of lizards, including species traditionally thought of as non-
venomous, such as iguanas and bearded dragons. This suggests that these
genes evolved in the common ancestor of lizards and snakes, some 200
million years ago (forming a single clade, the Toxicofera).[16] However,
Skeleton of bearded dragon (pogona
most of these putative venom genes were "housekeeping genes" found in all
sp.) on display at the Museum of
cells and tissues, including skin and cloacal scent glands. The genes in
Osteology.

Respiration

Recent studies (2013 and 2014) on the lung anatomy of the savannah monitor and green iguana found them to have a unidirectional airflow system, which
involves the air moving in a loop through the lungs when breathing. This was previously thought to only exist in the archosaurs (crocodilians and birds). This
may be evidence that unidirectional airflow is an ancestral trait in diapsids.[19][20]

Reproduction and lifecycle

As with all amniotes, lizards rely on internal fertilisation and copulation involves the male inserting one of his
hemipenes into the female's cloaca.[21] The majority of species are oviparous (egg laying). The female deposits
the eggs in a protective structure like a nest or crevice or simply on the ground.[22] Depending on the species,
clutch size can vary from 4–5 percent of the females body weight to 40–50 percent and clutches range from one
or a few large eggs to dozens of small ones.[23]

In most lizards, the eggs have leathery shells to allow for the exchange of
water, although more arid-living species have calcified shells to retain Trachylepis maculilabris skinks mating
water. Inside the eggs, the embryos use nutrients from the yolk. Parental
care is uncommon and the female usually abandons the eggs after laying
them. Brooding and protection of eggs does occur in some species. The female prairie skink uses respiratory water loss
to maintain the humidity of the eggs which facilitates embryonic development. In lace monitors, the young hatch close to
300 days, and the female returns to help them escape the termite mound were the eggs were laid.[22]

Two pictures taken on an eastern
fence lizard egg and layered onto
one image.
Around 20 percent of lizard species reproduce via viviparity (live birth). This is particularly common in Anguimorphs.
Viviparous species give birth to relatively developed young which look like miniature adults. Embryos are nourished via
a placenta-like structure.[24] A minority of lizards have parthenogenesis (reproduction from unfertilised eggs). These
species consist of all females who reproduce asexually with no need for males. This is known in occur in various species
of whiptail lizards.[25] Parthenogenesis was also recorded in species that normally reproduce sexually. A captive female
Komodo dragon produced a clutch of eggs, despite being separated from males for over two years.[26]

Sex determination in lizards can be temperature-dependent. The temperature of the eggs' micro-environment can determine the sex of the hatched young: low
temperature incubation produces more females while higher temperatures produce more males. However, some lizards have sex chromosomes and both male
heterogamety (XY and XXY) and female heterogamety (ZW) occur.[25]

Behaviour

Diurnality and thermoregulation

The majority of lizard species are active during the day,[27] though some are active at night, notably geckos. As ectotherms, lizards have a limited ability to
regulate their body temperature, and must seek out and bask in sunlight to gain enough heat to become fully active.[28]

Territoriality

Most social interactions among lizards are between breeding individuals.[27] Territoriality is common and is
correlated with species that use sit-and-wait hunting strategies. Males establish and maintain territories that contain
resources which attract females and which they defend from other males. Important resources include basking,
feeding, and nesting sites as well as refuges from predators. The habitat of a species affects the structure of territories,
for example, rock lizards have territories atop rocky outcrops.[29] Some species may aggregate in groups, enhancing
vigilance and lessening the risk of predation for individuals, particularly for juveniles.[30] Agonistic behaviour
typically occurs between sexually mature males over territory or mates and may involve displays, posturing, chasing,
grappling and biting.[29]
Fighting male sand lizards

Communication

Lizards signal both to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Visual displays include body postures and inflation, push-ups, bright colours, mouth gapings and
tail waggings. Male anoles and iguanas have dewlaps or skin flaps which come in various sizes, colours and patterns and the expansion of the dewlap as well
as head-bobs and body movements add to the visual signals.[31][6] Some species have deep blue dewlaps and communicate with ultraviolet signals.[27] Blue-
tongued skinks will flash their tongues as a threat display.[32] Chameleons are known to change their complex
colour patterns when communicating, particularly during agonistic encounters. They tend to show brighter
colours when displaying aggression[33] and darker colours when they submit or "give up".[34]

Several gecko species are brightly coloured; some species tilt their bodies to display their coloration. In certain
species, brightly coloured males turn dull when not in the presence of rivals or females. While it is usually
males that display, in some species females also use such communication. In the bronze anole, head-bobs are a
common form of communication among females, the speed and frequency varying with age and territorial A Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis)
status. Chemical cues or pheromones are also important in communication. Males typically direct signals at signalling with its extended dewlap
rivals, while females direct them at potential mates. Lizards may be able to recognise individuals of the same
species by their scent.[31]

Acoustic communication is less common in lizards. Hissing, a typical reptilian sound, is mostly produced by larger species as part of a threat display,
accompanying gaping jaws. Some groups, particularly geckos, snake-lizards, and some iguanids, can produce more complex sounds and vocal apparatuses
have independently evolved in different groups. These sounds are used for courtship, territorial defense and in distress, and include clicks, squeaks, barks and
growls. The mating call of the male tokay gecko is heard as "tokay-tokay!".[32][31][35] Tactile communication involves individuals rubbing against each other,
either in courtship or in aggression.[31] Some chameleon species communicate with one another by vibrating the substrate that they are standing on, such as a
tree branch or leaf.[36]

Ecology

Distribution and habitat

Lizards are found worldwide, excluding the far north and Antarctica, and some islands. They can be found in
elevations from sea level to 5,000 m (16,000 ft). They prefer warmer, tropical climates but are adaptable and can live
in all but the most extreme environments. Lizards also exploit a number of habitats; most primarily live on the
ground, but others may live in rocks, on trees, underground and even in water. The marine iguana is adapted for life
in the sea.[6] Lizard in tree. Many species are tree-
dwelling

Diet

The majority of lizard species are predatory and the most common prey items are small, terrestrial invertebrates,
particularly insects.[6][37] Many species are sit-and-wait predators though others may be more active foragers.[38]
Chameleons prey on numerous insect species, such as beetles, grasshoppers and winged termites as well as spiders.
They rely on persistence and ambush to capture these prey. An individual perches on a branch and stays perfectly
still, with only its eyes moving. When an insect lands, the chameleon focuses its eyes on the target and slowly moves
towards it before projecting its long sticky tongue which, when hauled back, brings the attach prey with it. Geckos
feed on crickets, beetles, termites and moths.[6][37]
A lizard from Thar desert
Termites are an important part of the diets of some species of Autarchoglossa, since, as social insects, they can be
found in large numbers in one spot. Ants may form a prominent part of the diet of some lizards, particularly among
the lacertas.[6][37] Horned lizards are also well known for specializing on ants. Due to their small size and indigestible
chitin, ants must be consumed in large amounts, and ant-eating lizards have larger stomachs than even herbivorous
ones.[39] Species of skink and alligator lizards eat snails and their power jaws and molar-like teeth are adapted for
breaking the shells.[6][37]

Larger species, such as monitor lizards, can feed on larger prey including
fish, frogs, birds, mammals and other reptiles. Prey may be swallowed whole
and torn into smaller pieces. Both bird and reptile eggs may also be
consumed as well. Gila monsters and beaded lizards climb trees to reach Western green lizard ambushes its
both the eggs and young of birds. Despite being venomous, these species grasshopper prey.
rely on their strong jaws to kill prey. Mammalian prey typically consists of
rodents and leporids; the Komodo dragon can kill prey as large as water
buffalo. Dragons are prolific scavengers, and a single decaying carcass can
attract several from 2 km (1.2 mi) away. A 50 kg (110 lb) dragon is capable
Young Komodo dragon feeding on a
water buffalo carcass
of consuming a 31 kg (68 lb) carcass in 17 minutes.[37]

Around 2 percent of lizard species, including many iguanids, are herbivores.

Adults of these species eat plant parts like flowers, leaves, stems and fruit,
while juveniles eat more insects. Plant parts can be hard to digest, and, as they get closer to adulthood, juvenile
iguanas eat faeces from adults to acquire the microflora necessary for their transition to a plant-based diet. Perhaps the
most herbivorous species is the marine iguana which dives 15 m (49 ft) to forage for algae, kelp and other marine Marine iguana foraging under water
plants. Some non-herbivorous species supplement their insect diet with fruit, which is easily digested.[6][37] at Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

Antipredator adaptations

Lizards have a variety of antipredator adaptations, including running and climbing, venom, camouflage, tail autotomy, and reflex bleeding.

Camouflage
 Lizards exploit a variety of different camouflage methods. Many lizards are
disruptively patterned. In some species, such as Aegean wall lizards, individuals
vary in colour, and select rocks which best match their own colour to minimise
the risk of being detected by predators.[40] The Moorish gecko is able to change
colour for camouflage: when a light-coloured gecko is placed on a dark surface,
it darkens within an hour to match the environment.[41] The chameleons in
general use their ability to change their coloration for signalling rather than
camouflage, but some species such as Smith's dwarf chameleon do use active
colour change for camouflage purposes.[42] The frilled-neck lizard with fully
The flat-tail horned lizard's body is
extended frill. The frilled serves
flattened and fringed to minimise its
The flat-tail horned lizard's body is coloured like its desert background, and is to make it look bigger than it
shadow.
actually is.
flattened and fringed with white scales to minimise its shadow.[43]

Autotomy

Many lizards, including geckos and skinks, are capable of shedding their tails (autotomy). The detached tail,
sometimes brilliantly coloured, continues to writhe after detaching, distracting the predator's attention from the fleeing
prey. Lizards partially regenerate their tails over a period of weeks. Some 326 genes are involved in regenerating
lizard tails.[44] The fish-scale gecko Geckolepis megalepis sheds patches of skin and scales if grabbed.[45]

Escape, playing dead, reflex bleeding

Many lizards attempt to escape from danger by running to a place of safety;[46][b] for example, wall lizards can run
up walls and hide in holes or cracks.[9] Horned lizards adopt differing defences for specific predators. They may play Play media
dead to deceive a predator that has caught them; attempt to outrun the rattlesnake, which does not pursue prey; but A skink tail continuing to move after
autotomy
stay still, relying on their cryptic coloration, for Masticophis whip snakes which can catch even swift prey. If caught,
some species such as the greater short-horned lizard puff themselves up, making their bodies hard for a narrow-
mouthed predator like a whip snake to swallow. Finally, horned lizards can squirt blood at cat and dog predators from
a pouch beneath its eyes, to a distance of about two metres (6.6 feet); the blood tastes foul to these attackers.[48]

Evolution

Fossil history

The earliest known fossil remains of a lizard belong to the iguanian species Tikiguania estesi, found in the Tiki
Formation of India, which dates to the Carnian stage of the Triassic period, about 220 million years ago.[49]
However, doubt has been raised over the age of Tikiguania because it is almost indistinguishable from modern
agamid lizards. The Tikiguania remains may instead be late Tertiary or Quaternary in age, having been washed into
much older Triassic sediments.[50] Lizards are most closely related to the Rhynchocephalia, which appeared in the
Late Triassic, so the earliest lizards probably appeared at that time.[50] Mitochondrial phylogenetics suggest that the
first lizards evolved in the late Permian. It had been thought on the basis of morphological data that iguanid lizards
diverged from other squamates very early on, but molecular evidence contradicts this.[51]
Fossil lizard Dalinghosaurus
Mosasaurs probably evolved from an extinct group of aquatic lizards[52] known as aigialosaurs in the Early longidigitus, Early Cretaceous, China
Cretaceous. Dolichosauridae is a family of Late Cretaceous aquatic varanoid lizards closely related to the
mosasaurs.[53][54]

Phylogeny

External

The position of the lizards and other Squamata among the reptiles was studied using fossil evidence by Rainer Schoch and Hans-Dieter Sues in 2015. Lizards
form about 60% of the extant non-avian reptiles.[55]

Archelosauria
Archosauromorpha

Lepidosauromorpha

†Kuehneosauridae

Squamata
Lepidosauria

Rhynchocephalia
 Pantestudines

Internal

Both the snakes and the Amphisbaenia (worm lizards) are clades deep within the Squamata (the smallest clade that contains all the lizards), so "lizard" is
paraphyletic.[56] The cladogram is based on genomic analysis by Wiens and colleagues in 2012 and 2016.[57][58] Excluded taxa are shown in upper case on
the cladogram.
Squamata
Dibamia
Dibamidae
Bifurcata
Diplodactylidae

Pygopodomorpha
Pygopodidae

Carphodactylidae

Gekkota Eublepharidae

Sphaerodactylidae
Gekkomorpha
Gekkonoidea Phyllodactylidae

Gekkonidae

Unidentata
Scincomorpha
Scincidae

Xantusiidae

Scinciformata
Cordylomorpha Gerrhosauridae

Cordylidae

Episquamata
Gymnophthalmidae

Teiformata

Teiidae

Laterata Lacertiformata
Lacertidae

Lacertibaenia
AMPHISBAENIA (worm lizards, not usually considered "true
lizards")

Toxicofera Anguimorpha Palaeoanguimorpha

Shinisauria
Shinisauridae

Lanthanotidae

Varanoidea

Varanidae
 Helodermatoidea
Helodermatidae

Xenosauroidea
Xenosauridae

Diploglossidae
Neoanguimorpha

Anniellidae
Anguioidea

Anguidae

Chamaeleonidae

Acrodonta

Agamidae

Pleurodonta
Leiocephalidae

Iguanidae

Hoplocercidae

Crotaphytidae

Iguania

Corytophanidae

Tropiduridae

Phrynosomatidae

Dactyloidae

Polychrotidae

Liolaemidae

Leiosauridae

Opluridae

SERPENTES (snakes, not considered to be lizards)

Taxonomy

In the 13th century, lizards were recognized in Europe as part of a broad category of reptiles that consisted of a miscellany of egg-laying creatures, including
"snakes, various fantastic monsters, […], assorted amphibians, and worms", as recorded by Vincent of Beauvais in his Mirror of Nature.[59] The seventeenth
century saw changes in this loose description. The name Sauria was coined by James Macartney (1802);[60] it was the Latinisation of the French name
Sauriens, coined by Alexandre Brongniart (1800) for an order of reptiles in the classification proposed by the author, containing lizards and crocodilians,[61]
later discovered not to be each other's closest relatives. Later authors used the term "Sauria" in a more restricted sense, i.e. as a synonym of Lacertilia, a
suborder of Squamata that includes all lizards but excludes snakes. This classification is rarely used today because
Sauria so-defined is a paraphyletic group. It was defined as a clade by Jacques Gauthier, Arnold G. Kluge and
Timothy Rowe (1988) as the group containing the most recent common ancestor of archosaurs and lepidosaurs (the
groups containing crocodiles and lizards, as per Mcartney's original definition) and all its descendants.[62] A different
definition was formulated by Michael deBraga and Olivier Rieppel (1997), who defined Sauria as the clade
containing the most recent common ancestor of Choristodera, Archosauromorpha, Lepidosauromorpha and all their
descendants.[63] However, these uses have not gained wide acceptance among specialists.

Suborder Lacertilia (Sauria) – (lizards)

Family †Bavarisauridae
Family †Eichstaettisauridae
Infraorder Iguania Artistic restoration of a mosasaur,
Prognathodon
Family †Arretosauridae
Family †Euposauridae
Family Corytophanidae (casquehead lizards)
Family Iguanidae (iguanas and spinytail iguanas)
Family Phrynosomatidae (earless, spiny, tree, side-blotched and horned lizards)
Family Polychrotidae (anoles)
Family Leiosauridae (see Polychrotinae)
Family Tropiduridae (neotropical ground lizards)
Family Liolaemidae (see Tropidurinae)
Family Leiocephalidae (see Tropidurinae)
Family Crotaphytidae (collared and leopard lizards)
Family Opluridae (Madagascar iguanids)
Family Hoplocercidae (wood lizards, clubtails)
Family †Priscagamidae
Family †Isodontosauridae
Family Agamidae (agamas, frilled lizards)
Family Chamaeleonidae (chameleons)
Infraorder Gekkota
Family Gekkonidae (geckos)
Family Pygopodidae (legless geckos)
Family Dibamidae (blind lizards)
Infraorder Scincomorpha
Family †Paramacellodidae
Family †Slavoiidae
Family Scincidae (skinks)
Family Cordylidae (spinytail lizards)
Family Gerrhosauridae (plated lizards)
Family Xantusiidae (night lizards)
Family Lacertidae (wall lizards or true lizards)
Family †Mongolochamopidae
Family †Adamisauridae
Family Teiidae (tegus and whiptails)
Family Gymnophthalmidae (spectacled lizards)
Infraorder Diploglossa
Family Anguidae (slowworms, glass lizards)
Family Anniellidae (American legless lizards)
Family Xenosauridae (knob-scaled lizards)
Infraorder Platynota (Varanoidea)
Family Varanidae (monitor lizards)
Family Lanthanotidae (earless monitor lizards)
Family Helodermatidae (Gila monsters and beaded lizards)
Family †Mosasauridae (marine lizards)

Convergence

Lizards have frequently evolved convergently, with multiple groups independently developing similar morphology and ecological niches. Anolis ecomorphs
have become a model system in evolutionary biology for studying convergence.[65] Limbs have been lost or reduced independently over two dozen times
across lizard evolution, including in the Anniellidae, Anguidae, Cordylidae, Dibamidae, Gymnophthalmidae, Pygopodidae, and Scincidae; snakes are just the
most famous and species-rich group of Squamata to have followed this path.[64]

Relationship with humans

Most lizard species are harmless to humans. Only the largest lizard species, the Komodo dragon, which reaches
3.3 m (11 ft) in length and weighs up to 166 kg (366 lb), has been known to stalk, attack, and, on occasion, kill
humans. An eight-year-old Indonesian boy died from blood loss after an attack in 2007.[66]

Numerous species of lizard are kept as pets, including bearded dragons,[67]

iguanas, anoles,[68] and geckos (such as the popular leopard gecko).[67]

Lizards appear in myths and folktales around the world. In Australian

Aboriginal mythology, Tarrotarro, the lizard god, split the human race into
male and female, and gave people the ability to express themselves in art. A
The slowworms, Anguis, are among
lizard king named Mo'o features in Hawaii and other cultures in Polynesia.
over twenty groups of lizards that
In the Amazon, the lizard is the king of beasts, while among the Bantu of have convergently evolved a legless
Africa, the god Unkulunkulu sent a chameleon to tell humans they would body plan.[64]
live forever, but the chameleon was held up, and another lizard brought a
Green iguanas (Iguana iguana), are
different message, that the time of humanity was limited.[69] A popular
popular pets.
legend in Maharashtra tells the tale of how a common Indian monitor, with ropes attached, was used to scale the
walls of the fort in the Battle of Sinhagad.[70] In the Bhojpuri speaking region of India and Nepal, there is a belief
among children that, on touching Skunk's tail three (or five) time with the shortest finger gives money.

Green iguanas are eaten in Central America, where they are sometimes referred to as "chicken of the tree" after their habit of resting in trees and their
supposedly chicken-like taste,[71] while spiny-tailed lizards are eaten in Africa. In North Africa, Uromastyx species are considered dhaab or 'fish of the desert'
and eaten by nomadic tribes.[72]

Lizards such as the Gila monster produce toxins with medical applications. Gila toxin reduces plasma glucose; the substance is now synthesised for use in the
anti-diabetes drug exenatide (Byetta).[17] Another toxin from Gila monster saliva has been studied for use as an anti-Alzheimer's drug.[73]

Lizards in many cultures share the symbolism of snakes, especially as an emblem of resurrection. This may have derived from their regular moulting. The
motif of lizards on Christian candle holders probably alludes to the same symbolism. According to Jack Tresidder, in Egypt and the Classical world they were
beneficial emblems, linked with wisdom. In African, Aboriginal and Melanesian folklore they are linked to cultural heroes or ancestral figures.[74]

Notes
a. Chameleon forefeet have groups composed of 3 inner and 2 outer digits; the hindfeet have groups of 2 inner and 3 outer digits.[6]
b. The BBC's 2016 Planet Earth II showed a sequence of newly-hatched marine iguanas running to the sea past a waiting crowd of racer
snakes. It was edited for dramatic effect but the sections were all genuine.[47]

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General sources
Pianka, E. R.; Vitt, L. J. (2003). Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (https://archive.org/details/lizardswindowsto00pian).
University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23401-7.

Further reading
Behler, John L.; King, F. Wayne (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of North America (https://archive.or
g/details/audubonsocietyfi00behl/page/581). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 581 (https://archive.org/details/audubonsocietyfi00behl/page/5
81). ISBN 978-0-394-50824-5.
Capula, Massimo; Behler, John L. (1989). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of the World (https://archive.org/details/s
imonschustersgu00capu). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-69098-4.
Cogger, Harold; Zweifel, Richard (1992). Reptiles & Amphibians (https://archive.org/details/reptilesamphibia00coggrich). Sydney:
Weldon Owen. ISBN 978-0-8317-2786-4.
Conant, Roger; Collins, Joseph (1991). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern/Central North America (https://archive.org/deta
ils/fieldguidetorept00cona). Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 978-0-395-58389-0.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1933). Reptiles of the World: The Crocodilians, Lizards, Snakes, Turtles and Tortoises of the Eastern and Western
Hemispheres. New York: Macmillan. p. 321.
Freiberg, Marcos; Walls, Jerry (1984). The World of Venomous Animals (https://archive.org/details/worldofvenomousa00marc). New
Jersey: TFH Publications. ISBN 978-0-87666-567-1.
Gibbons, J. Whitfield (1983). Their Blood Runs Cold: Adventures With Reptiles and Amphibians (https://archive.org/details/theirbloodruns
co0000gibb). Alabama: University of Alabama Press. p. 164 (https://archive.org/details/theirbloodrunsco0000gibb/page/164). ISBN 978-
0-8173-0135-4.
Greenberg, Daniel A. (2004). Lizards (https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761415800). Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 9780761415800.
Rosenfeld, Arthur (1987). Exotic Pets. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 293. ISBN 978-0671636906.

External links
Data related to Sauria at Wikispecies
Ernest Ingersoll (1920). "Lizard" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Encyclopedia_Americana_(1920)/Lizard). Encyclopedia Americana.

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