''Phymaturus'' is a

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 ...

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 believed ...

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 of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Liolaemidae Liolaemidae are a family of iguanian lizards. They were traditionally included in the family Iguanidae as subfamily Liolaeminae, which some more recent authors prefer to delimit in a more restricted way. This family is only found within South Ame ...

, a family which was traditionally included in the

Iguanidae 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 Crotaphytidae, collared lizards (fam ...

as a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

, but more recently was proposed to warrant family status in the

. ''Phymaturus'' is the mid-sized genus of its family, with 50

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

altogether known as of 2021; new species are still being discovered, however.Scolaro et al. (2008).

Species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of the genus ''Phymaturus'' are found in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

region south to

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

and inhabit a variety of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s. Their habits are mostly conserved from the ancestral iguanians, in that ''Phymaturus'' are generally inhabitants of rocky ground, feed on

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s, and give birth to fully developed young.

Systematics

The genus can be divided into two lineages, which probably represent

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

s: ''palluma'' group : Superciliar scales not

imbricate Aestivation or estivation is the positional arrangement of the parts of a flower within a flower bud before it has opened. Aestivation is also sometimes referred to as praefoliation or prefoliation, but these terms may also mean vernation: the ar ...

, more than four

subocular scale In scaled reptiles, the ocular scales are those forming the margin of the eye.Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. ''Handbook of Snakes''. Comstock Publishing Associates (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. . The name originates from the term which is Latin f ...

s, 3-4 rows of lorilabial scales,

mental scale The mental scale, or mental, in snakes and other scaled reptiles refers to the median plate on the tip of the lower jaw. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca & London: Comstock Publishing A ...

narrower than

rostral scale The rostral scale, or rostral, in snakes and other scaled reptiles is the median plate on the tip of the snout that borders the mouth opening. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: ...

and usually touching the

sublabial scale In reptiles, the sublabial scales, also called lower-labials or infralabials, are those scales that border the mouth opening along the lower jaw. They do not include the median scaleWright AH, Wright AA. 1957. ''Handbook of Snakes''. Comstock Publis ...

s. Tail spines well-developed, two annuli per segment. ''patagonicus'' group :Superciliar scales elongate and overlapping, one usually unfragmented subocular scale, tail smooth, Meckel's groove fused and closed. More species which may or may not belong to the aforementioned species groups: ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Phymaturus''.

Footnotes

References

* (2011). "Two new mountain lizard species of the ''Phymaturus'' genus (Squamata: Iguania) from northwestern Patagonia, Argentina". ''

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week ...

'' 2924: 1-21. (in English with Spanish abstract)
PDF abstract
* (1838). "''Beiträge zur genaueren Kenntniss einiger Eidechsgattungen'' ". ''Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae'' 18: 712-784 + Plates LIV-LVI. (''Phymaturus'', new genus, pp. 749–750). (in German). * (2008). "When starvation challenges the tradition of niche conservatism: On a new species of the saxicolous genus ''Phymaturus'' from Patagonia Argentina with pseudoarboreal foraging behaviour (Iguania, Liolaemidae)". ''

'' 1786: 48-60. (in English with Spanish abstract)
PDF abstract
{{Authority control Lizard genera Lizards of South America Taxa named by Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst