Agamidae is a family of over 550 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards.
Rhynchocephalia is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living species, the tuatara of New Zealand. Despite its current lack of diversity, during the Mesozoic rhynchocephalians were a speciose group with high morphological and ecological diversity. The oldest record of the group is dated to the Middle Triassic around 238 to 240 million years ago, and they had achieved a worldwide distribution by the Early Jurassic. Most rhynchocephalians belong to the group Sphenodontia ('wedge-teeth'). Their closest living relatives are lizards and snakes in the order Squamata, with the two orders being grouped together in the superorder Lepidosauria.
Cearadactylus is a genus of large anhanguerid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Romualdo Formation of Brazil, South America. Fossil remains of Cearadactylus dated back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, about 112 million years ago. The only known species is C. atrox, described and named in 1985 by Giuseppe Leonardi and Guido Borgomanero. The name refers to the Brazilian state Ceará, and combines this with Greek daktylos, "finger", a reference to the wing finger of pterosaurs. The Latin atrox means "frightful", a reference to the fearsome dentition of the species.
Acrodonty is an anatomical placement of the teeth at the summit of the alveolar ridge of the jaw, without sockets, characteristic of bony fish. Functionally, acrodont tooth implantation may be related to strong bite force.
Eopteranodon is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao City, Liaoning, China. The genus was named in 2005 by paleontologists Lü Junchang and Zhang Xingliao. The type species is Eopteranodon lii.
Ornithocheiroidea is a group of pterosaurs within the extinct suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were typically large pterosaurs that lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, with fossil remains found all over the world except Antarctica.
Dsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings.
Guidraco is an extinct genus of toothed pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, northeast China. According to many recent studies, Guidraco is a member of the group Anhanguerinae, a subfamily belonging to the larger group Anhangueridae.
Barbaturex is an extinct genus of giant herbivorous iguanian lizards from Pondaung Formation, the Eocene of Myanmar. It is represented by a single species, Barbaturex morrisoni, which is known from several partial dentaries and a fused pair of frontals, two bones that form part of the top of the skull. Based on the size of these bones, Barbaturex morrisoni is estimated to have been about 1 metre (3.3 ft) from snout to vent, and possibly up to 6 feet (1.8 m) including the tail. Barbaturex morrisoni was named after The Doors frontman Jim Morrison, a play on his epithet "The Lizard King". The genus's name is a portmanteau of the Latin words Barbatus and rex, meaning "bearded king", in reference to ridges along the mandible and the lizard's large size.
Caiuajara is an extinct genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Brazil. It is known from a single type species, Caiuajara dobruskii.
Heterodontagama is an extinct genus of iguanian lizard from the Early Eocene of India. It belongs to the extinct family Priscagamidae, which is otherwise only known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The type species Heterodontagama borsukae was named in 2013 from several isolated upper and lower jaws found in an exposure of the Cambay Shale in an open-pit coal mine in Gujarat.
Pleurodontagama is an extinct genus of iguanian lizard from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The type species, Pleurodontagama aenigmatodes, was named in 1984 on the basis of a mostly complete skull and isolated lower jaw from a fossil locality called Khermeen Tsav. It has a wide skull with a flat snout, large eye sockets, and small bumps on the surfaces of the bones. Pleurodontagama was initially classified in the family Priscagamidae, which is usually grouped in a large clade of iguanians called Acrodonta, members of which are characterized by an "acrodont" dentition in which the teeth grow from the margins of the jaws. However, Pleurodontagama is unusual in that it has a sub-pleurodont dentition, meaning that some of its teeth grow from the inner surfaces of the jaw. There is also evidence to suggest that its teeth may have been continuously replaced throughout life, as opposed to the permanent teeth of acrodontans. Pleurodontagama may have been a transitional form between the derived acrodont type and the pleurodont type inferred for the ancestors of Acrodonta.
Pariguana is an extinct genus of iguanid lizard from the Late Cretaceous of western North America. It is known from a single type species, Pariguana lancensis, named in 2012 on the basis of a partial lower jaw from the Lance Formation in eastern Wyoming. This jaw bone comes from a layer dated approximately 650,000 years before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Pariguana is the oldest definitive iguanid from North America, and may represent the first stage of the iguanian evolutionary radiation from Asia into North America.
Bharatagama is an extinct genus of lepidosaur from the Early Jurassic of India. It has been suggested to be one of the oldest known lizards and the oldest known iguanian. The type and only species is Bharatagama rebbanensis, named in 2002. Over one hundred fossils of Bharatagama have been found in the Kota Formation, which outcrops in the Pranhita–Godavari Basin and dates back to about 190 million years ago (Ma). Despite its abundance, Bharatagama is known only from isolated jaw bones mixed together in microvertebrate assemblages with equally fragmentary remains of fish, sphenodontians, dinosaurs, crocodylomorphs, and mammals. These fossils represent all stages of development, from hatchlings to adults. The total length of the skull in adult specimens is estimated to have been about 15 millimetres (0.59 in). Later analysis suggested that the taxon might be a member of Rhynchocephalia.
Tapejaroidea is a group of pterosaurs belonging to the clade Ornithocheiroidea. Tapejaroids lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, with one possible member, Tendaguripterus, extending the fossil range to the Late Jurassic period. Tapejaroidea contains two groups, the Dsungaripteridae and the Azhdarchoidea, which in turn includes the azhdarchids, the group that contains some of the largest flying animals. The group was named by Brazilian paleontologist Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 1996.
Acrodonta are a subclade of iguanian squamates consisting almost entirely of Old World taxa. Extant representation include the families Chamaeleonidae (chameleons) and Agamidae, with at least over 500 species described. A fossil genus, Gueragama, was found in Brazil, making it the only known American representative of the group.
Vespersaurus is a genus of noasaurid theropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous Rio Paraná Formation in the Paraná Basin, Brazil. The type and only species is V. paranaensis, which would have lived in the giant prehistoric Botucatu Desert.
Keresdrakon is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Goio-Erê Formation of Brazil, which dates back to the Early Cretaceous period, 125 to 100.5 million years ago. Keresdrakon contains a single species, Keresdrakon vilsoni.
The Goio-Erê Formation is a geological formation in Brazil. It is sometimes thought to be deposited between the Turonian and Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous, but an Aptian-Albian date has also been proposed. It primarily consists of sandstone and was deposited in a desert environment. It is known for its exceptional 3-D preservation of fossils, which include those of the pterosaurs Keresdrakon and Caiuajara, the dinosaur Berthasaura as well as the iguanian lizard Gueragama. It is laterally equivalent to the Rio Paraná Formation.
Berthasaura is a genus of noasaurid ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous Goio-Erê Formation of Paraná, Brazil. The type and only species is Berthasaura leopoldinae.
