Priscagaminae Borsuk-Bialynicka and Moody 1984[2][3]
Priscagamidae is an extinct
family of
iguanianlizards[1] known from the
Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and China and the
Eocene of India,[3] spanning a range from 83.6 to 48.6 million years ago. Probably the earliest priscagamids on indeterminate genera were found in
Aptian-
Albian sediments in "Hobur", Mongolia.[4] It includes the
generaHeterodontagama, Mimeosaurus, Phrynosomimus, Priscagama, and possibly Pleurodontagama.[5] The first fossils of priscagamids were found in the
Djadochta and
Khermeen Tsav formations of Mongolia.[2] More recently they have been found in the
Cambay Formation in India, leading to the naming of Heterodontagama in 2013.[6] Priscagamidae was originally described as a subfamily of
Agamidae called Priscagaminae in 1984,[2] but it was reclassified as a distinct family in 1989.[1] Most
phylogenetic analyses (analyses of evolutionary relationships) still find a close relationship between Priscagamidae and Agamidae (both have been grouped under a
clade called
Chamaeleontiformes[7]), although a 2015 study found it to be
basal to all other iguanian clades, warranting its removal from Iguania and placement in a larger clade called
Iguanomorpha.[8]
References
^
abcAlifanov, V.R. (1989). "New priscagamids (Lacertilia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia and their systematic position among Iguania". Paleontological Journal. 4: 68–80.
^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: 104–119.
doi:
10.1670/10-112.
hdl:11336/61054.
S2CID85405843.