Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser

extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species,[1] ranging across all continents
except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The grouping is paraphyletic as some lizards
are more closely related to snakes than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size
from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon.

Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as
"legless lizards") have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some lizards, such
as the forest-dwelling Draco, are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting off other
males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are
mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the
Komodo eats mammals as big as water buffalo.

Lizards make use of a variety of antipredator adaptations, including venom, camouflage, reflex
bleeding, and the ability to sacrifice and regrow their tails.

Anatomy

Largest and smallest

The adult length of species within the suborder ranges from a few centimeters for chameleons such
as Brookesia micra and geckos such as Sphaerodactylus ariasae[2] to nearly 3 m (10 ft) in the case of
the largest living varanid lizard, the Komodo dragon.[3] Most lizards are fairly small animals.

Distinguishing features

A young Mediterranean house gecko in the process

Lizards typically have rounded torsos, elevated heads on short necks, four limbs and long tails,
although some are legless.[4] Lizards and snakes share a movable quadrate bone, distinguishing them
from the rhynchocephalians, which have more rigid diapsid skulls.[5] Some lizards such as chameleons
have prehensile tails, assisting them in climbing among vegetation.[6]

As in other reptiles, the skin of lizards is covered in overlapping scales made of keratin. This provides
protection from the environment and reduces water loss through evaporation. This adaptation
enables lizards to thrive in some of the driest deserts on earth. The skin is tough and leathery, and is
shed (sloughed) as the animal grows. Unlike snakes which shed the skin in a single piece, lizards slough
their skin in several pieces. The scales may be modified into spines for display or protection, and some
species have bone osteoderms underneath the scales.[6][7]

Red tegu (Tupinambis rufescens) skull, showing teeth of

The dentitions of lizards reflect their wide range of diets, including carnivorous, insectivorous,
omnivorous, herbivorous, nectivorous, and molluscivorous. Species typically have uniform teeth
suited to their diet, but several species have variable teeth, such as cutting teeth in the front of the
jaws and crushing teeth in the rear. Most species are pleurodont, though agamids and chameleons
are acrodont.[8][6]

The tongue can be extended outside the mouth, and is often long. In the beaded lizards, whiptails and
monitor lizards, the tongue is forked and used mainly or exclusively to sense the environment,
continually flicking out to sample the environment, and back to transfer molecules to the vomeronasal
organ responsible for chemosensation, analogous to but different from smell or taste. In geckos, the
tongue is used to lick the eyes clean: they have no eyelids. Chameleons have very long sticky tongues
which can be extended rapidly to catch their insect prey.[6]

Three lineages, the geckos, anoles, and chameleons, have modified the scales under their toes to form
adhesive pads, highly prominent in the first two groups. The pads are composed of millions of tiny
setae (hair-like structures) which fit closely to the substrate to adhere using van der Waals forces; no
liquid adhesive is needed.[9] In addition, the toes of chameleons are divided into two opposed groups
on each foot (zygodactyly), enabling them to perch on branches as birds do.[a][6]

Physiology

Locomotion
 Adhesive pads enable geckos to climb vertically.

Aside from legless lizards, most lizards are quadrupedal and move using gaits with alternating
movement of the right and left limbs with substantial body bending. This body bending prevents
significant respiration during movement, limiting their endurance, in a mechanism called Carrier's
constraint. Several species can run bipedally,[10] and a few can prop themselves up on their hindlimbs
and tail while stationary. Several small species such as those in the genus Draco can glide: some can
attain a distance of 60 metres (200 feet), losing 10 metres (33 feet) in height.[11] Some species, like
geckos and chameleons, adhere to vertical surfaces including glass and ceilings.[9] Some species, like
the common basilisk, can run across water.[12]

Senses

Lizards make use of their senses of sight, touch, olfaction and hearing like other vertebrates. The
balance of these varies with the habitat of different species; for instance, skinks that live largely
covered by loose soil rely heavily on olfaction and touch, while geckos depend largely on acute vision
for their ability to hunt and to evaluate the distance to their prey before striking. Monitor lizards have
acute vision, hearing, and olfactory senses. Some lizards make unusual use of their sense organs:
chameleons can steer their eyes in different directions, sometimes providing non-overlapping fields of
view, such as forwards and backwards at once. Lizards lack external ears, having instead a circular
opening in which the tympanic membrane (eardrum) can be seen. Many species rely on hearing for
early warning of predators, and flee at the slightest sound.[13]

Nile monitor using its tongue for smell

As in snakes and many mammals, all lizards have a specialised olfactory system, the vomeronasal
organ, used to detect pheromones. Monitor lizards transfer scent from the tip of their tongue to the
organ; the tongue is used only for this information-gathering purpose, and is not involved in
manipulating food.[14][13]
 Skeleton of bearded dragon (pogona sp.) on display at
the Museum of Osteology.

Some lizards, particularly iguanas, have retained a photosensory organ on the top of their heads called
the parietal eye, a basal ("primitive") feature also present in the tuatara. This "eye" has only a
rudimentary retina and lens and cannot form images, but is sensitive to changes in light and dark and
can detect movement. This helps them detect predators stalking it from above.[15]