--- title: "Lizards & Tuatara (Sauria & Rhynchocephalia) | Evolutionary Clade | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "Parietal third eyes, detachable autotomy tails, and microscopic dry-adhesion toe pads. Explore 15 species in the Lizards & Tuatara evolutionary lineage." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" --- # Lizards & Tuatara (*Sauria & Rhynchocephalia*) > Parietal third eyes, detachable autotomy tails, and microscopic dry-adhesion toe pads. Lizards display extreme morphological diversity, from six-foot Komodo dragons with iron-reinforced teeth to geckos that sprint up glass walls using quantum van der Waals forces. Many regenerate lost tails and shift skin color to control body temperature. The tuatara sits here as a neighbour, not a member: it is the only living member of the order Rhynchocephalia, whose lineage split from the lizards and snakes about 250 million years ago. ## Key Evolutionary Adaptations - Gecko toe pads feature millions of microscopic setae hairs that exploit van der Waals forces to stick to smooth ceilings. - Komodo dragon teeth feature iron coatings along serrated edges to keep bite surfaces razor sharp during flesh tearing. - Caudal autotomy allows lizards to fracture tail vertebrae at predetermined planes to escape predator grasps. ## Member Species (15 Creatures) - [Armadillo Girdled Lizard](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/armadillo-girdled-lizard/) (*Ouroborus cataphractus*) - **Superpower**: Ouroboros Armored Ball & Communal Crevices - **Musical Match**: Queens of the Stone Age (Stoner Rock & Desert Groove) - [Asian Water Monitor](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/asian-water-monitor/) (*Varanus salvator*) - **Superpower**: Follows scent trails and can smell a rotten carcass from up to 100 m away - **Musical Match**: NEU! (Krautrock & Electronic Pioneers) - [Central Bearded Dragon](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bearded-dragon/) (*Pogona vitticeps*) - **Superpower**: Heat can override its genes: high-temperature egg incubation turns genetically male (ZZ) dragons into functional females. - **Musical Match**: Paco de Lucía (Flamenco Puro & Spanish Classical Guitar) - [Frilled Lizard](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/frilled-lizard/) (*Chlamydosaurus kingii*) - **Superpower**: Raises a neck frill held up by hyoid bones and cartilages, with its mouth open, in a startle display; if that fails it usually runs for a tree on its hind legs. - **Musical Match**: Wolfmother (Classic Hard Rock & Southern Blues) - [Gila Monster](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/gila-monster/) (*Heloderma suspectum*) - **Superpower**: Beaded osteoderm armor and venom containing exendin-4, the peptide behind the diabetes drug exenatide (Byetta) - **Musical Match**: All Them Witches (Stoner Rock & Desert Groove) - [Green Iguana](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/green-iguana/) (*Iguana iguana*) - **Superpower**: Sheds its tail to escape and dives from overhanging branches into water - **Musical Match**: The Police (80s Pop & Dance Anthem) - [Komodo Dragon](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/komodo-dragon/) (*Varanus komodoensis*) - **Superpower**: Iron-reinforced serrated cutting teeth, venomous shock-inducing glands, and chainmail osteoderm armor - **Musical Match**: Metallica (Thrash Metal & Speed Metal) - [Leopard Gecko](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/leopard-gecko/) (*Eublepharis macularius*) - **Superpower**: A detached tail that keeps moving, flips included, for up to 30 minutes - **Musical Match**: Red Hot Chili Peppers (Pop-Punk & 2000s Alt-Rock) - [Marine Iguana](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/marine-iguana/) (*Amblyrhynchus cristatus*) - **Superpower**: Skeletal shrinkage of up to 20% during El Niño food shortages, and nasal glands that expel excess salt - **Musical Match**: Toots & The Maytals (First Wave Ska & Caribbean Rocksteady) - [Panther Chameleon](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/panther-chameleon/) (*Furcifer pardalis*) - **Superpower**: Nanocrystal skin that retunes its photonic lattice to shift color within a couple of minutes, a tongue launched off its hyoid bone to up to twice its body length, and independently rotating eyes with a 360-degree arc of vision - **Musical Match**: Rihanna (2000s Pop & R&B Anthem) - [Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/satanic-leaf-tailed-gecko/) (*Uroplatus phantasticus*) - **Superpower**: Camouflage matched to a dead leaf, right down to the apparent decay, missing chunks, and lichen-like patches. - **Musical Match**: Bauhaus (Gothic Rock & Post-Punk) - [Texas Horned Lizard](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/texas-horned-lizard/) (*Phrynosoma cornutum*) - **Superpower**: Blood-squirting eye defense and skin channels that steer water toward its snout - **Musical Match**: Calexico (Desert Americana & Cinematic Rock) - [Thorny Devil](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/thorny-devil/) (*Moloch horridus*) - **Superpower**: Grooves between its scales collect water and carry it by capillary action, even against gravity, to the corners of its mouth. - **Musical Match**: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (Psychedelic Rock & Neo-Psych) - [Tuatara](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tuatara/) (*Sphenodon punctatus*) - **Superpower**: A light-sensitive third eye with a retina and lens, and the lowest optimal body temperature of any reptile, 16 to 21 degrees Celsius. - **Musical Match**: God Is An Astronaut (Post-Rock & Cinematic Space) - [Veiled Chameleon](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/veiled-chameleon/) (*Chamaeleo calyptratus*) - **Superpower**: An elastic tongue that can accelerate at more than 50 times the pull of gravity and reach full length in under 30 milliseconds. - **Musical Match**: King Tubby & Augustus Pablo (Roots Reggae & Heavy Dub) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/clades/lizards/#collection", "name": "Lizards & Tuatara (Sauria & Rhynchocephalia)", "description": "Parietal third eyes, detachable autotomy tails, and microscopic dry-adhesion toe pads.", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/clades/lizards/", "mainEntity": { "@type": "ItemList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Armadillo Girdled Lizard", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/armadillo-girdled-lizard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Asian Water Monitor", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/asian-water-monitor/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Central Bearded Dragon", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bearded-dragon/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Frilled Lizard", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/frilled-lizard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Gila Monster", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/gila-monster/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "name": "Green Iguana", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/green-iguana/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "name": "Komodo Dragon", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/komodo-dragon/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "name": "Leopard Gecko", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/leopard-gecko/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "name": "Marine Iguana", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/marine-iguana/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "name": "Panther Chameleon", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/panther-chameleon/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "name": "Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/satanic-leaf-tailed-gecko/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "name": "Texas Horned Lizard", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/texas-horned-lizard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "name": "Thorny Devil", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/thorny-devil/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "name": "Tuatara", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tuatara/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "name": "Veiled Chameleon", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/veiled-chameleon/" } ] } } ] } ```