Lacerta (genus)

For the constellation, see Lacerta.

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
Domain:	Eukaryota
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.
Modern range of Lacerta species:   L. agilis   L. bilineata   L. citrovittata   L. diplochondrodes   L. media   L. pamphylica   L. schreiberi   L. strigata   L. trilineata   L. viridis

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] Some fossil species from the ice-age mediterranean, such as Lacerta siculimelitensis, reached especially large sizes.^[3]

Species

The genus Lacerta contains the following species.^[4]

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^[5]
• 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^[6]
• Dalmatolacerta oxycephala – sharp-snouted rock lizard
• Parvilacerta parva – dwarf lizard^[7]
• 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. 1430. Auckland, New Zealand: Magnolia Press: 1–86. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1430.1.1. ISBN 978-1-86977-097-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 May 2021. 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. Böhme, Wolfgang; Zammit-Maempel, George (1982). "Lacerta siculimelitensis sp. n. (Sauria: Lacertidae), a giant lizard from the Late Pleistocene of Malta". Amphibia-Reptilia. 3 (2): 257–268. doi:10.1163/156853882X00473. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
4. "Lacerta ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
5. Tuniyev, B.; Ananjeva, N.B.; Agasyan, A.; Orlov, N.L.; Tuniyev, S.; Anderson, S. (2017) [errata version of 2009 assessment]. "Darevskia chlorogaster". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T164702A114559582. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T164702A5919117.en. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
6. 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.
7. 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, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 824 pp. (Lacerta, new genus, p. 200). (in Latin).