SQUAMATA (PART) — Other Lizards
The taxonomy used by the KHA reflects our understanding of evolutionary history. It is well-established that the traditional group "lizards" is not natural. And that snakes are a derived group of lizards that share a more recent common ancestor with some groups of lizards than they do with others. To reconcile this well-supported hypothesis, the KHA has opted to list all snakes and "other lizards" under Squamata. While this arrangement doesn't appear in most popular books, the continued traditional recognition of snakes with an equal but separate catchall "lizards" is untenable.


ESTABLISHED TAXA

ANGUIDAE — Anguid Lizards
Slender Glass Lizard Ophisaurus attenuatus Cope 1880

PHRYNOSOMATIDAE — Sand and Spiny Lizards
Common Lesser Earless Lizard Holbrookia maculata Girard 1851
Northwestern Short-horned Lizard Phrynosoma hernandesi (Bell 1828)
Prairie Lizard Sceloporus consobrinus Baird & Girard 1853
Sagebrush Lizard Sceloporus graciosus Baird & Girard 1852

SCINCIDAE — Skinks
Common Five-lined Skink Plestiodon fasciatus (Linnaeus 1758)
Many-lined Skink Plestiodon multivirgatus (Hallowell 1857)
Great Plains Skink Plestiodon obsoletus (Baird & Girard 1852)
Prairie Skink Plestiodon septentrionalis (Baird 1858)

TEIIDAE — Whiptails, Racerunners, and Ameivas
Six-lined Racerunner Aspidoscelis sexlineatus (Linnaeus 1766)


NOT YET ESTABLISHED TAXA OF INTEREST


EXTINCT TAXA (in prep)


Travis W. Taggart © 1999-2025 — w/ Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University