Gekkota
Leopard Gecko ( Eublepharis macularius )
The Gecko -like ( Gekkota ) are a taxon Squamata ( Squamata ). They combine the geckos ( Gekkonidae ), the Australian fins feet ( Pygopodidae ), five other families who have been separated only recently from the geckos, and some fossil taxa.
Features
The Gecko -like have a different from all other lizards karyotype and a special muscle in the ear area. Gecko -like most of the vortex are amphicoel, that is they are indented at both ends. This is seen as a return to a primitive state, some primitive genera and fossil vertebrae of gecko -like from the Jurassic have procoele (front concave, convex back ) vertebrae. The stapes have a hole. Mostly missing the zygomatic arch, the hyoid bone is wing- shaped. The tongues are fleshy and thick. The many nocturnal species can communicate by calls. Hatching gecko -like helps a paired egg tooth to break through the parchment-like egg case.
Phylogeny
The lizard Ardeosaurus brevipes, whose fossil remains in sandstone deposits of the Upper Jurassic ( Tithonian ) were found in Bavaria, could be an early representative of this taxon. The Gecko -like are secured from the Upper Cretaceous known ( the affiliation of the much older Jurassic genus Eichstaettisaurus to Gekkota is disputed), the family of geckos is the fossil record since the late Eocene, the feet fins missing any fossil evidence. There are more than 1,000 species described from about 100 genera.
System
Today, seven families of gecko -like lizards can be distinguished. A basal dichotomy separates the Australasian families double finger geckos ( Diplodactylidae ), fins and feet ( Pygopodidae ) and Carphodactylidae of the other four families.
Double finger geckos ( Diplodactylidae ) (about 90 species )
Carphodactylidae ( about 30 species )
Fins feet ( Pygopodidae ) ( 37 species )
Lidgeckos ( Eublepharidae ) (about 25 species )
Sphaerodactylidae ( about 200 species )
Geckos ( Gekkonidae ) (about 500 species )
Phyllodactylidae (over 100 species)