Podarcis

Quality 0.50 · 3 views · Updated 2 months ago

Genus of lizards

title: "Podarcis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["podarcis", "lizard-genera", "taxa-named-by-johann-georg-wagler"] description: "Genus of lizards" topic_path: "general/podarcis" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podarcis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of lizards ::

| fossil_range = Pleistocene – Recent | image = Extensive introgression and mosaic genomes of Mediterranean endemic lizards (2021) fig. 1.1.png | image_caption = Male phenotypes of six wall lizard species: P. siculus (top left), P. filfolensis (top right), P. erhardii (middle left), P. tauricus (middle right), P. waglerianus (bottom left) and P. muralis (bottom right). | taxon = Podarcis | authority = Wagler, 1830

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.

Species and subspecies

The genus Podarcis contains the following 27 species which are recognized as being valid. A few of the many recognized subspecies are also listed here.

Nota bene: A binomial authority or trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Podarcis.

References

References

  1. (2014). "The Cova des Pas de Vallgornera (Llucmajor, Mallorca): a singular deposit bearing an exceptional well preserved Early Pleistocene vertebrate fauna". International Journal of Speleology.
  2. "''Podarcis'' ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
  3. {{EMBL genus
  4. "''Podarcis'' ". ''Dahms Tierleben''. www.dahmstierleben.de.
  5. (1996). "Lurche und Kriechtiere". Mosaik-Verl..
  6. Schuster, Ruth. (2021-05-19). "Why Wall Lizards Are the Most Successful Reptile in the Mediterranean". Haaretz English Edition.
  7. (2007). "Depauperate Parasite Faunas in Introduced Populations of Podarcis (Squamata: Lacertidae) Lizards in North America". Journal of Herpetology.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

podarcislizard-generataxa-named-by-johann-georg-wagler