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Agamidae

 
Agamidae

 
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Agamidae
 
 
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Agamids, lizards of the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Agamidae, include more than 300 species in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, and a few in Southern Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Phylogenetically
Phylogenetics

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices....
 they may be sister to the Iguanidae
Iguanidae

The Iguanidae is a family of lizards, composed of iguanas and related species....
, and have a similar appearance. Agamids usually have well-developed, strong legs. Their tails cannot be shed and regenerated like those of geckoes, though a certain amount of regeneration is observed in some. Many agamid species are capable of limited change of their colours.






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Agamids, lizards of the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Agamidae, include more than 300 species in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, and a few in Southern Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Phylogenetically
Phylogenetics

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices....
 they may be sister to the Iguanidae
Iguanidae

The Iguanidae is a family of lizards, composed of iguanas and related species....
, and have a similar appearance. Agamids usually have well-developed, strong legs. Their tails cannot be shed and regenerated like those of geckoes, though a certain amount of regeneration is observed in some. Many agamid species are capable of limited change of their colours. They inhabit warm environments, ranging from hot desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
s to tropical rainforest
Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
s.

One of the key distinguishing features of the agamids is their teeth, which are borne on the outer rim of the mouth (acrodont
Acrodont

Acrodont is a formation of the teeth whereby the teeth are consolidated with the summit of the alveolar ridge of the jaw without sockets. The term also refers to species of reptiles that have such a formation....
), rather than on the inner side of the jaws (pleurodont
Pleurodont

Pleurodont is a formation of the teeth that are fused by their sides to the inner surface of the jaw bones.This formation is common in the order Squamata....
). This feature is shared with the chameleon
Chameleon

Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, and the possession by many of a prehensile tail, crests or horns on their...
s, but is otherwise unusual among lizards. Agamid lizards are generally diurnal
Diurnal

Diurnal may refer to:* Diurnality, the behavior of an animal that is active in the daytime* Diurnal motion, the apparent motion of stars around the Earth...
, with good vision, and include a number of arboreal species, in addition to ground and rock-dwellers. They feed on insects. The great majority of agamid species are oviparous.

Systematics


There have been very few studies of the Agamidae with the first comprehensive assessment by Moody (1980) followed by a more inclusive assessment by Frost and Etheridge (1989). Subsequent studies were based mitochondrial DNA loci (using allozymes), and sampling across the Agamidae. Few other studies focused on clades within the family, but the Agamidae have not been as well investigated as the Iguanidae
Iguanidae

The Iguanidae is a family of lizards, composed of iguanas and related species....
.

Among the Agamidae, six clades or lineages are generally recognized:

FAMILY: AGAMIDAE
  • Subfamily: Leiolepidinae
    Leiolepis

    Leiolepis or commonly known as Butterfly Lizards are group of lizards of which very little is known. They are native to Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam....
     (Leiolepis)
  • Subfamily: Uromasticinae
    Uromastyx

    The Uromastyx is a genus of lizard whose members are better-known as Spiny-tailed lizards, uros, mastigures, or dabb lizards. Uromastykes are primarily herbivorous, but occasionally eat insects, especially when young....
     (Uromastyx)
  • Subfamily: Amphibolurinae (Australian and New Guinean)
  • Subfamily: Hydrosaurinae
    Hydrosaurus

    Classification of genus Hydrosaurus*Malaysian Sail-finned Lizard *Hydrosaurus pustulatus*Hydrosaurus weberi...
     (Hydrosaurus)
  • Subfamily: Draconinae (South and Southeast Asian)
  • Subfamily: Agaminae
    Agaminae

    Agaminae is a subfamily of reptiles in the family Agamidae.Agaminae comprises the following genus:*Genus Acanthocercus*Genus Acanthosaura ...


The chameleon
Chameleon

Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, and the possession by many of a prehensile tail, crests or horns on their...
s of the sister family Chamaeleonidae are sometimes discussed as sub-family Chamaeleoninae and sub-family Agaminae (referring to Agamidae, not the Agaminae mentioned above).

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