Igua

Igua
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Clade: Gobiguania
Genus: Igua
Borsuk-Białynicka and Alifanov, 1991
Type species
Igua minuta
Borsuk-Białynicka and Alifanov, 1991

Igua is an extinct genus of iguanian lizard belonging to a group called Gobiguania that was endemic to the Gobi Desert during the Late Cretaceous. The type species Igua minta was named in 1991 on the basis of a skull from the Barun Goyot Formation in Mongolia. The skull itself is very small, only 14 millimetres (0.55 in) long, and may have belonged to a juvenile given that it possesses a large fontanelle and that many of the bones are unfused. The snout-vent length of the individual (the total body length minus the tail) is estimated to have been 55 to 65 millimetres (2.2 to 2.6 in). Igua differs from related gobiguanians like Polrussia in having a more rounded skull. It is similar in appearance to the living genera Liolaemus and Tropidurus. The teeth are tricuspid and pleurodont, meaning they are attached to inner surfaces of the jaws.[1]

Below is a cladogram from Daza et al. (2012) showing the phylogenetic relationships of Igua:[2]

Iguania

Hoyalacerta sanzi





Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus



Pristiguana brasiliensis




Chamaeleontiformes

Priscagamidae



Acrodonta



Iguanoidea (=Pleurodonta)

Silvaiguana

Hoplocercidae



Polychrotidae



Gobiguania

Polrussia mongoliensis



Igua minuta



Isodontosaurus gracilis




Anchaurosaurus gilmorei



Zapsosaurus sceliphros





Saichangurvel davidsoni




Temujinia ellisoni



Ctenomastax parva






Euiguana

Corytophanidae



Terraiguana





Iguanidae



Crotaphytidae





Phrynosomatidae




Opluridae




Uquiasaurus




Liolaemidae




Leiocephalus



Tropiduridae













References

  1. Borsuk-Białynicka, M.; and Alifanov, V.R. "First Asiatic 'iguanid' lizards in the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 36 (3): 325–342. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  2. Daza, J. D.; Abdala, V.; Arias, J. S.; García-López, D.; Ortiz, P. (2012). "Cladistic Analysis of Iguania and a Fossil Lizard from the Late Pliocene of Northwestern Argentina". Journal of Herpetology 46: 104. doi:10.1670/10-112.


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