Cordylidae

Cordylidae
Tropical girdled lizard,
Cordylus tropidosternum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Clade: Cordyliformes
Family: Cordylidae
Fitzinger, 1826
Diversity
10 genera (see text)

Cordylidae is a family of small- to medium-sized lizards that occur in southern and eastern Africa. They are commonly known as girdled lizards, spinytail lizards, or girdle-tail lizards.[1][2]

Cordylidae is closely related to the family Gerrhosauridae, occurring in Africa and Madagascar. These two scientific families of lizards, known as Cordyliformes or Cordyloidea, are sometimes combined into a larger concept of Cordylidae. Recent molecular analyses confirm the clade made up of Cordylidae and Gerrhosauridae (Cordyloidea) and place it in a larger clade including Xantusiidae (Cordylomorpha Vidal & Hedges, 2009).[3]

  1. ^ "Cordylidae." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.
  2. ^ "Cordylidae." Bill Branch. 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and other reptiles of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
  3. ^ Nicolas Vidal; S. Blair Hedges The molecular evolutionary tree of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians