Conolophus subcristatus
Common name:
Galapagos land iguana
Family:
Iguanidae
Suborder:
Iguania
Order:
Squamata
Conolophus subcristatus
Common name:
Galapagos land iguana
Family:
Iguanidae
Suborder:
Iguania
Order:
Squamata
Conolophus subcristatus
Common name:
Galapagos land iguana
Family:
Iguanidae
Suborder:
Iguania
Order:
Squamata
Suborder (Animalia): 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 believed to form the sister group to the remainder of the Squamata, and comprise nearly 13,000 named species. However, molecular information has placed Iguania well within the Squamata as sister taxa to the Anguimorpha and closely related to snakes. The order has been under debate and revisions after being classified by Charles Lewis Camp in 1923 due to difficulties finding adequate synapomorphic morphological characteristics. The majority of Iguanias are arboreal but there are several terrestrial groups. They usually have primitive fleshy, non-prehensile tongues, although the tongue is highly modified in chameleons. The group has a fossil record that extends back to the Early Jurassic (the oldest known member is Bharatagama, which lived about 190 million years ago in what is now India). Today they are scattered occurring in Madagascar, the Fiji and Friendly Islands and Western Hemisphere.
Reference: Wikipedia