Lacerta

Taxonomy

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

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. Some fossil species from the ice-age mediterranean, such as Lacerta siculimelitensis, reached especially large sizes.

Species

The genus Lacerta contains the following species.

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

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

Geosaurus giganteus

Hellenolacerta graeca – Greek rock lizard

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

Dalmatolacerta oxycephala – sharp-snouted rock lizard

Parvilacerta parva – dwarf lizard

Darevskia steineri

Zootoca vivipara – viviparous lizard

Iranolacerta zagrosica