Phrynosomatidae
Sign in to saveAlso known as phrynosomatids, horned lizards
The Phrynosomatidae are a diverse family of lizards, sometimes classified as a subfamily (Phrynosomatinae), found from Panama to the extreme south of Canada. Many members of the group are adapted to life in hot, sandy deserts, although the spiny lizards prefer rocky deserts or even relatively moist forest edges, and the short-horned lizard lives in prairie or sagebrush environments. The group includes both oviparous (egg-laying) and viviparous species, with the latter being more common in species living at high elevations. Oviparous and viviparous species of Phrynosomatidae lizards co-localize
OverviewAI-generated
Phrynosomatidae is a family of organisms within the taxonomic rank of family. It belongs to the class Squamata, phylum Chordata, and kingdom Animalia. The parent taxon for this family is Iguania.
Records for Phrynosomatidae are held by institutions including BYU and UCMP, with occurrences documented in the United States. The family has 932,565 occurrence records and 422 specific records associated with these institutions.
Synthesized by Vinony from 19 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassSquamata
- FamilyPhrynosomatidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 422
- Family
- Phrynosomatidae
- Collections
- BYU, UCMP
- Recorded in
- United States
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Genera
- References
- External links
The Phrynosomatidae are a diverse family of lizards, sometimes classified as a subfamily (Phrynosomatinae), found from Panama to the extreme south of Canada. Many members of the group are adapted to life in hot, sandy deserts, although the spiny lizards prefer rocky deserts or even relatively moist forest edges, and the short-horned lizard lives in prairie or sagebrush environments. The group includes both oviparous (egg-laying) and viviparous species, with the latter being more common in species living at high elevations. Oviparous and viviparous species of Phrynosomatidae lizards co-localize in certain areas of the United States, including New Mexico. The earliest fossil remains of this group are known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and belong to the genus Desertiguana. As phrynosomatids are only known from North America, these remains indicate that phrynosomatids likely had a wider distribution in prehistoric times.
==Genera== The Phrynosomatidae are organised into nine genera.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Phrynosomatidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.