Michael J Benton, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Published online: September 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0004127
Lizards are generally small fast-moving four-legged slender terrestrial animals. The group of 4880 species of lizards, however, contains some exceptions: the large predatory Komodo dragon, the marine Galapagos iguana, the gliding Draco, various limbless forms, and burrowers.
Keywords: reptiles; lizards; ectothermy
|
Figure 1. Lizard jaw mechanics: skull of Varanus, showing the skull flexed (a) up and (b) down; (c) lizard skull with the jaws open, and the streptostylic quadrate swung back, so that the pterygoideus jaw muscles have their maximum effect; (d) diagrams of lizard skulls showing the advantages of kinesis in holding a food particle (left), which would otherwise be forced out by the bite in a nonmobile skull (right). (e) Skull of the tuatara Sphenodon. Based on various sources in Benton (2005).
|
|
Figure 2. The diversity of modern lizards. Reproduced from Young JZ (1981) The Life of Vertebrates. Oxford: Clarendon Press. With permission of Oxford University Press.
|
|
Figure 3. Cladogram of lizard relationships, based on data in Estes et al. (1988). Lizard relationships are highly contentious, and this cladogram is a ‘conservative’ estimate.
|
| Further Reading | |
| book Auffenberg W (1981) The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press. | |
| Benton MJ (1985) Classification and phylogeny of the diapsid reptiles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 84: 97–164. | |
| book Benton MJ (2005) Vertebrate Palaeontology, 3rd edn. Oxford: Blackwell. | |
| book Estes R, de Queiroz K and Gauthier J (1988) "Phylogenetic relationships within Squamata". In: Estes R and Pregill G (eds) Phylogenetic Relationships of the Lizard Families, pp. 119–281. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. | |
| Evans SE (2003) At the feet of the dinosaurs: the early history and radiation of lizards. Biological Reviews 78: 513–551. | |
| book Gans C (ed) (1969) Biology of the Reptilia, 19 vols. New York: Academic Press. | |
| book Halliday TR and Adler K (eds) (1986) The Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Facts on File. | |
| book Pough FH, Andrews R, Cadle J, et al. (2003) Herpetology, 2nd edn. New York: Prentice-Hall. | |
| book Pough FH, Janis CM and Heiser JB (2002) Vertebrate Life, 6th edn. New York: Prentice-Hall. | |
| Smith KK (1980) Mechanical significance of streptostyly in lizards. Nature 283: 778–779. | |
| book Young JZ (1981) The Life of Vertebrates. Oxford: Clarendon Press. | |
| book Zug G, Vitt LJ and Caldwell JP (2001) Herpetology: an Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, 2nd edn. New York: Academic Press. | |
Copyright © 2000-2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., or related companies. All rights reserved.
