''Armandisaurus explorator'' is an extinct species of

iguanid The Iguanidae is a family of lizards composed of the iguanas, chuckwallas, and their prehistoric relatives, including the widespread green iguana. Taxonomy Iguanidae is thought to be the sister group to the collared lizards (family Crotaphy ...

that lived in what is now

Santa Fe County Santa Fe County (; meaning "County of the Holy faith" in Spanish) is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, its population was 154,823, making it New Mexico's third-most populous county, after Bernalillo Count ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, in the Early

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...

period. The fossil specimen is a well-preserved cranium with mandibles and parts of seven cervical vertebrae collected by J. C. Blick in 1940. Fossil evidence suggests that ''A. explorator'' was a blunt, medium-sized iguana that grew to about 61 cm (24 in) including its tail.

Etymology

Armand (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

), proper name, + sauros (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

), lizard, and explorator (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

), one who investigates, after Jacques Armand Gauthier, the famous French explorer, in honor of his contributions to the study of reptile

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

and to express the gratitude of

Norell Norell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Arne Norell (1917–1971), Swedish furniture designer *Ingeborg Norell (born 1727), the first Finnish female to have received an official decoration *Mark Norell (born 1957), American ...

and de Queiroz for bringing the specimen to their attention.

References

Iguanidae Prehistoric reptile genera Fossil taxa described in 1991 Taxa named by Mark Norell {{Paleo-reptile-stub