Teiidae

Teiidae is a family of lacertoidean lizards native to the Americas. Members of this family are generally known as whiptails or racerunners; however, tegus also belong to this family. Teiidae is sister to the Gymnopthalmidae, and both families comprise the Teiioidea. The Teiidae includes several parthenogenic species – a mode of clonal reproduction. Presently, the Teiidae consists of approximately 150 species in eighteen genera.

Teiidae

Kristof Zyskowski · CC BY 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
Sits inside
TeiioideaPBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 121 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 125.77 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 17 of 127 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 28 of 127 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 127 occurrencesEocene — about 9 of 127 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 127 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 38 of 127 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 127 occurrencesPleistocene — about 19 of 127 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 3 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 5 occurrences120–115 Mya — about 3 occurrences115–111 Mya — about 2 occurrences111–107 Mya — about 2 occurrences107–103 Mya — about 1 occurrence103–98 Mya — about 2 occurrences98–94 Mya — about 2 occurrences94–90 Mya — about 1 occurrence90–86 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences86–81 Mya — about 5 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 6 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 6 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 5 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 3 occurrences60–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–51 Mya — about 1 occurrence51–47 Mya — about 1 occurrence47–43 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences43–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–30 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences30–26 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences26–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–13 Mya — about 12 occurrences13–8.6 Mya — about 21 occurrences8.6–4.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.3–0 Mya — about 32 occurrences121.4 Mya11.7 ka128 Mya0 Mya

127 occurrences of Teiidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

127 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.

Found in

48 formations

La Victoria — 3.32°N, 75.17°WLa Victoria — 3.30°N, 75.13°WLa Victoria — 3.25°N, 75.13°WLa Victoria — 3.37°N, 75.14°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.15°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.22°WCloverly — 44.51°N, 107.90°WCloverly — 44.50°N, 107.82°WLance — 43.24°N, 104.29°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.51°WLance — 43.17°N, 104.57°WCedar Mountain — 38.66°N, 111.24°WCedar Mountain — 38.98°N, 111.04°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.68°WOldman — 50.48°N, 111.38°WOldman — 50.70°N, 111.50°WCamarillas — 40.65°N, 0.88°WCamarillas — 40.22°N, 1.89°WLa Pedrera de Rúbies — 42.03°N, 0.83°ELa Pedrera de Rúbies — 42.02°N, 0.89°EDinosaur Park — 49.96°N, 110.27°WPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EAntlers — 34.15°N, 95.82°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 41.04°N, 110.23°WLa Huérguina — 40.22°N, 1.98°WLa Huérguina — 40.06°N, 1.88°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WAguja — 29.10°N, 103.17°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 2.81°S, 73.55°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WBidahochi — 35.80°N, 110.10°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WTwin Mountains — 32.27°N, 97.91°WTwo Medicine — 47.82°N, 112.66°W

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The named rock units Teiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 24 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 33 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Teiidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Teiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,016 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 110 sites for Teiidae, 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

76 references

Each of the 127 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. 64 further references are not listed. 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 Teiidae

Credit
Kristof Zyskowski
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itTeiioidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1827