Paradracaena is an extinct genus of lizards from northern South America. Fossils of Paradracaena colombiana have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, Peru and Brazil . The species was described as a member of the tegus; Tupinambis huilensis by Estes in 1961.
| Paradracaena Temporal range: Miocene
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Teiidae |
| Genus: | †Paradracaena |
| Species: | †P. colombiana
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| Binomial name | |
| †Paradracaena colombiana (Estes 1961)
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| Synonyms | |
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Description
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Paradracaena colombiana[1] was first described as Tupinambis huilensis by Estes in 1961, later named Dracaena colombiana by Sullivan and Estes in 1997.[2] These ground dwelling insectivore-carnivores were described from fossils found in fluvial and lacustrine clays of the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the SALMA classification) Villavieja Formation in Colombia.[3] They share a number of features with extant caiman lizards, such as large teeth and a robust quadrate, but also bear more primitive characteristics, such as a higher tooth count.[4]
Distribution
editApart from the type locality in the Honda Group, fossils attributed to the genus Paradracaena were recovered from the Pebas and Solimões Formations of the Amazon Basin of respectively Peru and Brazil.[5][6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Dracaena colombiana at GBIF
- ^ Sullivan & Estes, 1997, p.102
- ^ Dracaena colombiana in the Paleobiology Database
- ^ Sullivan & Estes, 1997, p.111
- ^ Pujos et al., 2009, p.594
- ^ Hsiou et al., 2009, p.227
Bibliography
edit- Sullivan, Robert M.; Estes, Richard (1997), The Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia - A reassessment of the fossil Tupinambinae, Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 100–112, retrieved 2019-03-21
- Hsiou, Annie Schmaltz; Albino, Adriana María; Ferigolo, Jorge (2009), "First Lizard Remains (Teiidae) from the Miocene of Brazil (Solimões Formation)" (PDF), Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia, 12 (3): 225–230, doi:10.4072/rbp.2009.3.05, retrieved 2019-03-21
- Pujos, François; Albino, Adriana M.; Baby, Patrice; Guyot, Jean-Loup (2009), "Presence of the Extinct Lizard Paradracaena (Teiidae) in the Middle Miocene of the Peruvian Amazon", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29 (2): 594–598, Bibcode:2009JVPal..29..594P, doi:10.1671/039.029.0227, retrieved 2019-03-21