Polychrus

Polychrus acutirostris

Polychrus is a genus of iguana -like ( Iguania ) that are found in Central and South America, as well as on the islands of the Caribbean.

Features

There are relatively small and slim lizard, generally green or brown in color. Your toes have adhesive strips on the bottom and are broadened. The males of most species have a deployable through the hyoid bone colored dewlap, which is used in courtship and the threat and display behavior between conspecifics. But there are also species with reduced dewlap that can generate sounds and use their voice to intraspecific communication. All Polychrotidae are insectivores.

System

Polychrus was initially placed with the genus Anolis and other genera in the subfamily Polychrotinae into the family of iguanas ( Iguanidae ) to the subfamily were lifted in 1989 by Frost and Etheridge to the rank of a family. The same authors participated in 2004 in a study of the inner scheme of Polychrotidae six genera of the family out and placed them in the newly erected family Leiosauridae, so now were only Polychrus and Anolis with over 350 species of the family. End of 2012, the Anolis Dactyloidae family were assigned, the Polychrus remained as the only genus in the order monotypic family Polychrotidae.

Within the genus Polychrus there are seven types:

• Polychrus acutirostris Spix, 1825
• Polychrus femoral Werner, 1910
• Polychrus gutturosus Berthold, 1846
• Polychrus jacque linae cooking, Venegas, Garcia- Bravo & Böhme, 2011
• Polychrus liogaster Boulenger, 1908
• Polychrus marmoratus (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Polychrus peruvianus (Noble, 1924)

Swell

• V. Storch, U. Welsch: Systematic Zoology, Part 2: vertebral or cranial Animals, 6th Edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag Heidelberg • Berlin, 2004, ISBN 3-8274-0307-3