Photo: Petrosaurus thalassinus
© Ingo Kober
Order Squamata
Suborder Sauria
This family was previously (and is still sometimes) treated as a subfamily of the Iguanidae: Sceloporinae or Phrynosomatinae. Frost and Etheridge (1989) raised the group to family status and this has been widely accepted. Other authors (like Macey et al. 1997), however, disagreed and suggested to reinstall the old subfamilial classification of iguanid lizards including the Phrynosomatinae.
Appearance: body cross-section round or flattened.
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Photo: Petrosaurus thalassinus © Ingo Kober |
Distribution: Southern Canada through the USA to Panama
Habitat: mainly terrestrial
Reproduction: oviparous (egg-laying)
Zoological definition (according to Frost & Etheridge, 1989): (1) maxillae not meeting anteromedially behind palatal portion of premaxilla; (2) lacrimal foramen not enlarged; (3) skull roof not strongly rugose; (4) jugal and squamosal not broadly juxtaposed; (5) parietal roof trapezoidal; (6) parietal foramen in frontoparietal suture; (7) supratemporal sits on lateral side of supratemproal process of parietal; (8) nuchal endolymphatic sacs do not penetrate nuchal musculature; (9) dentary not expanded onto labial face of coronoid; (10) labial blade of coronoid poorly developed or absent; (11) anterior surangular foramen above posteriormost extent of dentary; (12) Meckel's groove not fused; (13) splenial relatively long anteriorly; (14) dentary and maxillary teeth pleurodont, not fused to underlying bone in adults; (15) palatine teeth absent; (16) pterygoid teeth absent; (17) posterior process of interclavicle invested by sternum far anteriorly; (18) caudal autotomy fracture plane present (except in Phrynosoma), with transverse processes anterior to fracture planes; (19) posterior coracoid fenestra absent; (20) sternal fontanelles enlarged and median; (21) sternal ribs: 3 or 4 (Petrosaurus); (22) postxiphisternal inscriptional ribs short; (23) interparietal scale large (except in Phrynosoma and Uma); (24) mid-dorsal scale row absent; (25) gular fold complete medially (except Sceloporus); (26) femoral pores present; (27) spinulate scale organs absent; (28) sink-trap nasal apparatus; nasal vestibule long, straight, supported by elongated septomaxilla; concha absent; (29) hemipenes unicapitate, unisulcate, with enlarged posterior lobe; (30) colic septa absent.
List of Genera:
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Combined phylogenetic tree, modified after Reeder & Wiens (1996).
Etheridge, Richard 1964
The skeletal morphology and systematic relationships of
sceloporine lizards.
Copeia 1964 (4): 610-631
Frost,D.E. & Etheridge,R.E. (1989)
A Phylogenetic Analysis and Taxonomy of Iguanian Lizards
(Reptilia: Squamata)
Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. Misc. Publ. 81
Jennings-M-R 1990
Petrosaurus Boulenger. Rock lizards.
Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 494 1990: 1-2
Leaché, Adam D. and Jimmy A. McGuire (2006)
Phylogenetic relationships of horned lizards ( Phrynosoma ) based on nuclear and mitochondrial data: Evidence for a misleading mitochondrial gene tree.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39 (3): 628-644
MACEY,J.R., A. LARSON, N.B. ANANJEVA AND T.J. PAPENFUSS (1997)
Evolutionary shifts in three major structural features of the
mitochondrial genome among iguanian lizards.
J. Mol. Evol. 44: 660-674
Montanucci, Richard R. 1987
A phylogenetic study of the horned lizards, genus Phrynosoma,
based on skeletal and external morphology.
Contributions in Science (390): 1-36 + 1 plate
PRESCH,W. 1969
Evolutionary osteology and relationships of the horned lizard
genus Phrynosoma (family Iguanidae).
Copeia 1969: 250-275
Reeder, Tod W. Wiens, John J. (1996)
Evolution of the lizard family Phrynosomatidae as inferred from
diverse types of data.
Herpetological Monographs (10): 43&endash;84
Reeder,T.W. & Montanucci,R.R. 2001
Phylogenetic analysis of the horned lizards (Phrynomomatidae:
Phrynosoma): evidence from mitochondrial DNA and morphology.
Copeia 2001 (2): 309-323
Reeve, Wayne L. (1952)
Taxonomy and distribution of the horned lizard genus
Phrynosoma.
University of Kansas Science Bulletin 34 (14): 817-960
Sites, J.W., Jr., Archie, J.W., Cole, C.J., & Flores-Villela,
O. 1992
A review of phylogenetic hypotheses for lizards of the genus
Sceloporus (Phrynosomatidae): implications for ecological and
evolutionary studies.
Amer. Mus. of Natur. Hist., New York, Bull. no. 213 110 pp.
SMITH, H. M. 1939
The Mexican and Central American lizards of the genus
Sceloporus.
Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser. 26: 1-397.
Upton, D. E. Murphy, R. W. (1997)
Phylogeny of the side-blotched lizards (Phrynosomatidae:Uta) based
on mtDNA sequences: support for midpeninsular seaway in Baja
California.
Mol Phylogenet Evol 8 (1): 104-13
Wiens, J.J. 1993
Phylogenetic systematics of the tree lizards (genus
Urosaurus).
Herpetologica 49 (4): 399-420
Wiens, John J. 1993
Phylogenetic relationships of phrynosomatid lizards and monophyly
of the Sceloporus group.
Copeia 1993 (2): 287-299
Wiens, John J. Reeder, Tod W. (1997)
Phylogeny of the spiny lizards (Sceloporus) based on molecular and
morphological evidence.
Herpetological Monographs 11: 1-101