Chamaeleontiformes is a hypothesized
clade (evolutionary grouping) of
iguania
Iguania is an infraorder of squamate reptiles that includes iguanas, chameleons, agamids, and New World lizards like anoles and phrynosomatids. Using morphological features as a guide to evolutionary relationships, the Iguania are believe ...
n lizards defined as all taxa sharing a
more recent common ancestor with ''
Chamaeleo chamaeleon
''Chamaeleo'' is a genus of chameleons in the family Chamaeleonidae. Most species of the genus ''Chamaeleo'' are found in sub-Saharan Africa, but a few species are also present in northern Africa, southern Europe, and southern Asia east to In ...
'' (the common chamaeleon) than with ''
Hoplocercus spinosus
The spiny weapontail (''Hoplocercus spinosus'') is a lizard belonging to the monotypic genus ''Hoplocercus''. It is found in the Cerrado and adjacent Cerrado– Amazon mosaics in Brazil and Bolivia. It is quite distantly related to the other m ...
'' (the Brazilian spiny-tailed lizard), ''
Polychrus marmoratus
''Polychrus marmoratus'' or many-colored bush anole is a species of bush anole. It is also commonly referred to as the monkey lizard due to its slow movement. The lizard has many predators, including spiders and primates.
Description
''Polych ...
'' (bush lizard), or ''
Iguana iguana'' (green iguana). It was named by paleontologist
Jack Conrad
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
in 2008 to describe a clade recovered in his
phylogenetic analysis
In biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that pro ...
that included the extinct genus ''
Isodontosaurus
''Isodontosaurus'' is an extinct genus of iguanian lizard from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and China. The type species is ''Isodontosaurus gracilis''. ''Isodontosaurus'' is part of an extinct group of Late Cretaceous iguanians called Gobigua ...
'', the extinct family
Priscagamidae
Priscagamidae is an extinct family of iguanian lizards known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and China and the Eocene of India, spanning a range from 75 to 54 million years ago. It includes the genera '' Heterodontagama'', '' Mimeosaurus'', ...
, and the living clade
Acrodonta, which includes
agamid
Agamidae is a family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards.
Overview
Phylogenetically, they may be sister to th ...
s and
chameleons.
It is a
stem-based taxon
Phylogenetic nomenclature is a method of nomenclature for taxa in biology that uses phylogenetic definitions for taxon names as explained below. This contrasts with the traditional approach, in which taxon names are defined by a ''type'', which c ...
and one of two major clades within Iguania, the other being
Pleurodonta
Pleurodonta (from Greek '' lateral teeth'', in reference to the position of the teeth on the jaw) is one of the two subdivisions of Iguania, the other being Acrodonta ('' teeth on the top f the jaw'). Pleurodonta includes all families previously ...
. Below is a
cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
from Daza ''et al.'' (2012) showing this phylogeny:
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:
References
Iguanomorpha
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