Lacerta (genus)

Lacerta is a genus of lizards of the family Lacertidae.

Taxonomy

Lacerta was a fairly diverse genus containing around 40 species, until it was split into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza.<ref name="Arnold2007">Template:Cite journal</ref>

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.<ref>Čerňanský A. 2010. "Earliest world record of green lizards (Lacertilia, Lacertidae) from the Lower Miocene of Central Europe". Biologia 65 (4): 737-741. Template:Doi</ref> Some fossil species from the ice-age mediterranean, such as Lacerta siculimelitensis, reached especially large sizes.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Species

The genus Lacerta contains the following species.<ref>"Lacerta ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref>

Image	Name	Distribution
	Lacerta agilis – sand lizard
	Lacerta bilineata – western green lizard
	Lacerta citrovittata – Tinos green lizard	Greece
	Lacerta diplochondrodes – Rhodos green lizard	Greece
	Lacerta media	Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Russia
	Lacerta pamphylica	Turkey
	Lacerta schreiberi – Iberian emerald lizard
	Lacerta strigata – Caucasus emerald lizard	Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Iran
	Lacerta trilineata – Balkan green lizard
	Lacerta viridis – 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<ref>Template:Cite iucn</ref>
• Phoenicolacerta cyanisparsa
• Omanosaura cyanura – blue-tailed Oman lizard
• Anatololacerta danfordi – Danford's lizard
• Darevskia defilippii – Elburs lizard
• Darevskia dryada Template:Small
• 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<ref>Template:Cite iucn</ref>
• Dalmatolacerta oxycephala – sharp-snouted rock lizard
• Parvilacerta parva – dwarf lizard<ref>Template:Cite iucn</ref>
• Darevskia steineri
• Zootoca vivipara – viviparous lizard
• Iranolacerta zagrosica

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, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 824 pp. (Lacerta, new genus, p. 200). (in Latin).

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