Podarcis

Podarcis is a genus of lizards, known colloquially as wall lizards, in the family Lacertidae. Its members look very similar to lizards of the genus Lacerta, to which they were considered to belong until the 1970s. While similar externally and ecologically, Podarcis form a distinct group differing from Lacerta by the construction of the skull and the hemipenis, and by the processes of the caudal vertebrae. Wall lizards are native to Europe and northern Africa, and most species are restricted to the Mediterranean region. Wall lizards diversified and hybridized during the Messinian salinity crisis. The Italian wall lizard and the common wall lizard have been introduced to North America, where they have become intermediate hosts for some Acuariidae larvae.

Podarcis

Weizhao Yang et al. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Wall lizardsPBDB
Sits inside
LacertidaePBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB, for Lacertidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Lacertidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 0 of 20 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 14 of 20 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 6 of 20 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.1–957 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences957 ka–820 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences820 ka–683 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences683 ka–547 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence547 ka–410 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence410 ka–273 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence273 ka–137 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence137 ka–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences774 ka11.7 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

20 occurrences of Podarcis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

20 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Podarcis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Podarcis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

284 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Podarcis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

11 references

Each of the 20 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Podarcis

Credit
Weizhao Yang et al.
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Podarcis lilfordi · CBQ:368-b

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLacertidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagler 1830