Polychrus is the only extant genus of polychrotid lizards in the world.[2] Commonly called bush anoles, they are found in Central and South America, as well as nearby Trinidad and Tobago.

Polychrus
Polychrus acutirostris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Polychrotidae
Genus: Polychrus
Cuvier, 1817[1]
Type species
Draco marmoratus
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

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Polychrus means "many colored". True anoles in other genera are now placed in Dactyloidae. Polychrus is presently in the family Polychrotidae.[3][2]

Species

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Polychrus gutturosus seen in Tapir Valley, Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa Rica.
[4]

Fossil history

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Though species of Polychrus have an almost exclusively South American distribution today, a stem representative, Sauropithecoides charisticus, was reported from the late Eocene of North Dakota, USA.[5][6]

References

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  1. ^ Schlüter 2013: Cuvier 1817, Règne Animal 2: 40. Species typica: Lacerta marmorata Linnaeus.
  2. ^ a b "ITIS Report: Polychrus – Cuvier, 1817". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  3. ^ "ITIS search results". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  4. ^ Polychrus, Reptile Database
  5. ^ Smith, K.T. (2011) The evolution of mid-latitude faunas during the Eocene: Late Eocene lizards of the Medicine Pole Hills reconsidered. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 52: 3-105. https://doi.org/10.3374/014.052.0101
  6. ^ Smith, K.T. (2006) A diverse new assemblage of late Eocene squamates (Reptilia) from the Chadron Formation, North Dakota, U.S.A. Palaeontologia Electronica 9.2.5A.

Further reading

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  • Berthold, A. A. 1845. "Über verschiedene neue oder seltene Reptilien aus Neu-Granada und Crustaceen aus China". Nachr. Georg-Augustus-Univ. und königl. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen 3: 37-48.
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1908. "Descriptions of new South American reptiles". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 8, 1 (1): 111−115.
  • Koch, C., Venegas, P.J., Garcia-Bravo, A. & Böhme, W. 2011. "A new bush anole (Iguanidae: Polychrotinae: Polychrus) from the upper Marañon basin, Peru, with a redescription of Polychrus peruvianus (Noble, 1924) and additional information on P. gutturosus Berthold, 1845". ZooKeys 141: 79−107.
  • Linnaeus, C. 1758. "Systema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae, secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymus, locis. Ed. 10. Tomus I. – Salvius, Stockholm, 824 pp.
  • Noble, G. K. 1924. "New lizards from northwestern Peru". Occasional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History 5: 107−113.
  • Schlüter, U. 2013. "Buntleguane - Lebensweise, Pflege, Fortpflanzung". KUS-Verlag, Rheinstetten, 78 pp. (A Monograph on Polychrus)
  • Spix, J. B. von 1825. "Animalia nova sive species novae lacertarum,quas in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX jussu et auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I. Bavariae regis". F. S. Hübschmann, München, pp. 1−26.
  • Werner, F. 1910. "Über neue oder seltene Reptilien des Naturhistorischen Museums in Hamburg. II. Eidechsen". Mitt. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg 27 (2): 1−46.