Lacerta (genus)

Lacerta is a genus of lizards of the family Lacertidae.

Lacerta Temporal range: Miocene—Present, 15–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Lacertidae
Tribe:	Lacertini
Genus:	Lacerta Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Lacerta agilis Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Nine, see text.

Taxonomy

Lacerta was a fairly diverse genus containing around 40 species, until it was "split" into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza.[1]

Fossil record

The earliest known members of the genus Lacerta are known from early Miocene epoch fossils indistinguishable in anatomy from the modern green lizards such as Lacerta viridis.[2]

Species

The genus Lacerta contains the following species.[3]

• Lacerta agilis Linnaeus, 1758 – sand lizard
• Lacerta bilineata Daudin, 1802 – western green lizard
• Lacerta citrovittata Werner, 1938 – Tinos green lizard
• Lacerta diplochondrodes Wettstein, 1952 – Rhodos green lizard
• Lacerta media Lantz & Cyrén, 1920
• Lacerta pamphylica Schmidtler, 1975
• Lacerta schreiberi Bedriaga, 1878 – Iberian emerald lizard
• Lacerta strigata Eichwald, 1831 – Caucasus emerald lizard
• Lacerta trilineata Bedriaga, 1886 - Balkan green lizard, Balkan emerald lizard
• Lacerta viridis (Laurenti, 1768) – European green lizard

Some species formerly in Lacerta

Arranged alphabetically by specific name:

• Anatololacerta anatolica – Anatolian rock lizard
• Atlantolacerta andreanskyi – Atlas dwarf lizard, Andreansky's lizard
• Iberolacerta aranica – Aran rock lizard
• Iberolacerta aurelioi – Aurelio's rock lizard
• Archaeolacerta bedriagae – Bedriaga's rock lizard
• Iberolacerta bonnali – Pyrenean rock lizard
• Apathya cappadocica – Anatolian lizard
• Darevskia chlorogaster – Green-bellied lizard[4]
• Phoenicolacerta cyanisparsa
• Omanosaura cyanura – blue-tailed Oman lizard
• Anatololacerta danfordi – Danford's lizard
• Darevskia defilippii – Elburs lizard
• Darevskia dryada (Darevsky & Tuniyev, 1997)
• Teira dugesii – Madeiran wall lizard
• Hellenolacerta graeca – Greek rock lizard
• (Lacerta herseyi = Zootoca vivipara)
• Iberolacerta horvathi – Horvath's rock lizard
• Omanosaura jayakari – Jayakar's lizard
• Phoenicolacerta kulzeri
• Phoenicolacerta laevis – Lebanon lizard
• Timon lepidus – ocellated lizard, foot lizard
• Iberolacerta monticola – Iberian rock lizard
• Dinarolacerta mosorensis - Mosor rock lizard
• Podarcis muralis – common wall lizard
• Anatololacerta oertzeni[5]
• Dalmatolacerta oxycephala – sharp-snouted rock lizard
• Parvilacerta parva – dwarf lizard[6]
• Darevskia steineri
• Zootoca vivipara – viviparous lizard
• Iranolacerta zagrosica

References

1. Arnold, E. Nicholas; Arribas, Oscar; Carranza, Salvador (2007). "Systematics of the Palaearctic and Oriental lizard tribe Lacertini (Squamata: Lacertidae: Lacertinae), with descriptions of eight new genera" (PDF). Zootaxa. Auckland, New Zealand: Magnolia Press. 1430: 1–86. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1430.1.1. ISBN 978-1-86977-097-6. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
2. Čerňanský A. 2010. "Earliest world record of green lizards (Lacertilia, Lacertidae) from the Lower Miocene of Central Europe". Biologia 65 (4): 737-741. doi:10.2478/s11756-010-0066-y
3. "Lacerta ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
4. Tuniyev, B.; Ananjeva, N.B.; Agasyan, A.; Orlov, N.L.; Tuniyev, S.; Anderson, S. (2009). "Darevskia chlorogaster (errata version published in 2017)". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T164702A114559582. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T164702A5919117.en. Retrieved 16 January 2020.{{cite iucn}}: error: |doi= / |page= mismatch (help)
5. Wolfgang Böhme; Petros Lymberakis; Varol Tok; Ismail H. Ugurtas; Murat Sevinç; Pierre-André Crochet; Yakup Kaska; Yusuf Kumlutaş; Uğur Kaya; Aziz Avci; Nazan Üzüm; Can Yeniyurt; Ferdi Akarsu; Petros Lymberakis (2009). "Anatololacerta oertzeni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T61527A12504829. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T61527A12504829.en. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
6. Varol Tok; Ishmail Ugurtas; Murat Sevinç; Wolfgang Böhme; Pierre-André Crochet; Ferdi Akarsu (2009). "Parvilacerta parva". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T164674A5917051. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T164674A5917051.en. Retrieved 16 January 2020.

Further reading

• Arnold EN, Arribas OJ, Carranza S. 2007. "Systematics of the Palaearctic and Oriental lizard tribe Lacertini (Squamata: Lacertidae: Lacertinae), with descriptions of eight new genera". Zootaxa 1430: 1-86.
• Linnaeus C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, diferentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 824 pp. (Lacerta, new genus, p. 200). (in Latin).