Chamaeleontiformes

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Chamaeleontiformes
Temporal range: Early Jurassic- present, 190–0  Ma
Chameleo.jpg
Common chameleon, Chamaeleo chamaeleon
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
(unranked): Chamaeleontiformes
Conrad, 2008
Subgroups

Isodontosaurus ?
Priscagamidae
Acrodonta

Chamaeleontiformes is a hypothesized clade (evolutionary grouping) of iguanian lizards defined as all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with Chamaeleo chamaeleon (the common chamaeleon) than with Hoplocercus spinosus (the Brazilian spiny-tailed lizard), Polychrus marmoratus (bush lizard), or Iguana iguana (green iguana). It was named by paleontologist Jack Conrad in 2008 to describe a clade recovered in his phylogenetic analysis that included the extinct genus Isodontosaurus , the extinct family Priscagamidae, and the living clade Acrodonta, which includes agamids and chameleons. [1] It is a stem-based taxon and one of two major clades within Iguania, the other being Pleurodonta. Below is a cladogram from Daza et al. (2012) showing this phylogeny: [2]

Iguanomorpha

Other analyses place Priscagamidae outside Iguania altogether, resulting in a Chamaeleontiformes that only includes Isodontosaurus and Acrodonta. Below is a cladogram from Conrad (2015) with this phylogeny: [3]

Iguanomorpha

References

  1. Conrad, J. L. (2008). "Phylogeny and Systematics of Squamata (Reptilia) Based on Morphology". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 310: 1–182. doi:10.1206/310.1. hdl:2246/5915. S2CID   85271610.
  2. Daza, J. D.; Abdala, V.; Arias, J. S.; García-López, D.; Ortiz, P. (2012). "Cladistic Analysis of Iguania and a Fossil Lizard from the Late Pliocene of Northwestern Argentina". Journal of Herpetology. 46: 104–119. doi:10.1670/10-112. hdl: 11336/61054 . S2CID   85405843.
  3. Conrad, Jack L. (2015). "A New Eocene Casquehead Lizard (Reptilia, Corytophanidae) from North America". PLOS ONE. 10 (7) e0127900. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1027900C. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127900 . PMC   4489568 . PMID   26131767.