''Paradracaena'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s from northern South America. Fossils of ''Paradracaena colombiana'' have been found in the Honda Group of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The species was described as a member of the

tegu Tegu is a common name of a number of species of lizards that belong to the families Teiidae and Gymnophthalmidae. Tegus are native to Central and South America. They occupy a variety of habitats and are known for their large size and predato ...

s; ''

Tupinambis ''Tupinambis'' is a lizard genus which belongs to the Family (biology), family Teiidae and contains eight described species. These large lizards are commonly referred to as tegus (''teiús'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese). ''Tupinambis meria ...

huilensis'' by Estes in 1961.

Description

''Paradracaena colombiana''''Dracaena colombiana''
at

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

was first described as ''

huilensis'' by Estes in 1961, later named ''Dracaena colombiana'' by Sullivan and Estes in 1997.Sullivan & Estes, 1997, p.102 These ground dwelling

insectivore file:Common brown robberfly with prey.jpg, A Asilidae, robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivore, carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the Entomophagy ...

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

s were described from fossils found in

fluvial A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

and

lacustrine A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

clays of the

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. ...

(

Laventan The Laventan () age is a period of geologic time (13.8 to 11.8 Ma) within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Colloncuran and precedes the Mayoan age. ...

in the SALMA classification)

Villavieja Formation The Honda Group (, Tsh, Ngh) is a geological group of the Upper and Middle Magdalena Basins and the adjacent Central and Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The group, in older literature also defined as formation, is in its present-day ty ...

in Colombia. They share a number of features with extant caiman lizards, such as large teeth and a robust quadrate, but also bear more primitive characteristics, such as a higher tooth count.Sullivan & Estes, 1997, p.111

Distribution

Apart from the type locality in the Honda Group, fossils attributed to the genus ''Paradracaena'' were recovered from the Pebas and

Solimões Formation The Pebas Formation is a lithostratigraphic unit of Miocene age, found in western Amazonia. The formation extends over , including parts of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.Wesselingh et al., 2006 It is interpreted as representing the deposit ...

s of the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

of respectively Peru and Brazil.Pujos et al., 2009, p.594Hsiou et al., 2009, p.227

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

*
Fauna de La Venta, Reptiles (lagartos) ''Paradracaena colombiana''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q6060853, from2=Q65084775 Teiidae Miocene reptiles of South America Extinct animals of Brazil Serravallian life Laventan Neogene Colombia Fossils of Colombia Honda Group, Colombia Fossil taxa described in 1961

Description

Distribution

See also

References

Bibliography

External links