The Polychrotidae

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

(sometimes classified as the Polychrotinae subfamily instead) of

iguania Iguania is an infraorder of squamate reptiles that includes iguanas, chameleons, agamids, and New World lizards like anoles and phrynosomatids. Using morphological features as a guide to evolutionary relationships, the Iguania are believe ...

n lizards contains the living

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

'' Polychrus'' (commonly called bush anoles) and the extinct genus '' Afairiguana''. The family Polychrotidae was once thought to encompass all

anole Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles () and native to warmer parts of the Americas, ranging from southeastern United States to Paraguay. Instead of treating it as a family, some authorities prefer to treat it as a subfami ...

s, including those in the genus ''

Anolis ''Anolis'' is a genus of anoles (), iguanian lizards in the family Dactyloidae, native to the Americas. With more than 425 species, it represents the world's most species-rich amniote tetrapod genus, although many of these have been proposed t ...

'' (which are now included in the family Dactyloidae). Studies of the evolutionary relationships of anoles based on molecular information has shown that ''Polychrus'' is not closely related to ''Anolis'', but instead closer to Hoplocercidae. It is therefore not part of Dactyloidae and instead is treated as the family, Polychrotidae.

References

Extant Ypresian first appearances Lizard families Extant Eocene first appearances {{Iguanidae-stub