Lacerta (genus)

Lacerta is a genus of lizards of the family Lacertidae.

Taxonomy Lacerta was a fairly diverse genus containing around 40 species, until it was split into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza.

Fossil record The earliest known members of the genus Lacerta are known from early Miocene epoch fossils indistinguishable in anatomy from the modern green lizards such as Lacerta viridis.Čerňanský A. 2010. "Earliest world record of green lizards (Lacertilia, Lacertidae) from the Lower Miocene of Central Europe". Biologia 65 (4): 737-741. Some fossil species from the ice-age mediterranean, such as Lacerta siculimelitensis, reached especially large sizes.

Species The genus Lacerta contains the following species."Lacerta ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. +ImageNameDistributionLacerta agilis – sand lizardLacerta bilineata – western green lizardLacerta citrovittata – Tinos green lizardGreeceLacerta diplochondrodes – Rhodos green lizardGreeceLacerta mediaGeorgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and RussiaLacerta pamphylicaTurkeyLacerta schreiberi – Iberian emerald lizardLacerta strigata – Caucasus emerald lizardGeorgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and IranLacerta trilineata – Balkan green lizardLacerta viridis – European green lizard

Some species formerly in Lacerta Arranged alphabetically by specific name: Anatololacerta anatolica – Anatolian rock lizard Atlantolacerta andreanskyi – Atlas dwarf lizard, Andreansky's lizard Iberolacerta aranica – Aran rock lizard Iberolacerta aurelioi – Aurelio's rock lizard Archaeolacerta bedriagae – Bedriaga's rock lizard Iberolacerta bonnali – Pyrenean rock lizard Apathya cappadocica – Anatolian lizard Darevskia chlorogaster – Green-bellied lizard Phoenicolacerta cyanisparsa Omanosaura cyanura – blue-tailed Oman lizard Anatololacerta danfordi – Danford's lizard Darevskia defilippii – Elburs lizard Darevskia dryada Teira dugesii – Madeiran wall lizard Geosaurus giganteus Hellenolacerta graeca – Greek rock lizard Iberolacerta horvathi – Horvath's rock lizard Omanosaura jayakari – Jayakar's lizard Phoenicolacerta kulzeri Phoenicolacerta laevis – Lebanon lizard Timon lepidus – ocellated lizard, foot lizard Iberolacerta monticola – Iberian rock lizard Dinarolacerta mosorensis - Mosor rock lizard Podarcis muralis – common wall lizard Anatololacerta oertzeni Dalmatolacerta oxycephala – sharp-snouted rock lizard Parvilacerta parva – dwarf lizard Darevskia steineri Zootoca vivipara – viviparous lizard Iranolacerta zagrosica

References

Further reading Arnold EN, Arribas OJ, Carranza S. 2007. "Systematics of the Palaearctic and Oriental lizard tribe Lacertini (Squamata: Lacertidae: Lacertinae), with descriptions of eight new genera". Zootaxa 1430: 1-86. Linnaeus C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 824 pp. (Lacerta, new genus, p. 200). (in Latin).

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