Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
  • \
    Start Submission Become a Reviewer

    A Brief Review of Lizard Inclusions in Amber



    Abstract

    A total of 82 lizard specimens in amber have been reported around the world to date. Records of lizard inclusions extend from the Cretaceous to the Neogene: (1) Cretaceous lizard inclusions are dominated by Autarchoglossans from Lebanon and a diverse lizard fauna from Myanmar (Burma); (2) Paleogene lizard inclusions are relatively poorly preserved and are dominated by lacertids and gekkonids; (3) Neogene records are the most abundant, dominated by two extant genera, Anolis and Sphaerodactylus. Synthesizing important information from all reported specimens, we suggest that an investigation of lizard inclusions in amber is of great importance for the study of their evolution, community structure and adaptive radiation as well as the origin and evolution of adhesion mechanism in geckos, or the level of ancient faunal diversity.

    Keywords: Amber Lizard inclusions Cretaceous Paleogene Neogene
    Section

    References

    1. Arnold, E. N. (1973). Relationships of the Palaeartic lizards assigned to the genera Lacerta, Algyroides and Psammodromus (Reptilia: Lacertidae). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Zoology, 25(8), 291-366.
    2. Arnold, E. N. (1998). Structural niche, limb morphology and locomotion in lacertid lizards (Squamata, Lacertidae), a preliminary study. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Zoology, 64, 63-89.
    3. Arnold, E. N., Azar, D., Ineich, I., & Nel, A. (2002). The oldest reptile in amber: a 120-million-year-old lizard from Lebanon. Journal of Zoology, 258(1), 7-10.
    4. Arnold, E. N., & Poinar, G. (2008). A 100-million-year-old gecko with sophisticated adhesive toe pads, preserved in amber from Myanmar. Zootaxa, 1847, 62-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1847.1.5
    5. Autumn, K., & Peattie, A. M. (2002). Mechanisms of adhesion in geckos. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 42(6), 1081-1090. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/42.6.1081
    6. Böhme, W. (1984). Erstfund eines fossilien Kugelfingergeckos (Sauria: Gekkonidae: Sphaerodactylinae) aus Dominikanischem Bernstein (Oligozän von Hispaniola, Antillen). Salamandra, 20, 212-220.
    7. Böhme, W., & Weitschat, W. (1998). Redescription of the Eocene lacertid lizard Nucras succinea Boulenger, 1917 from Baltic amber and its allocation to Succinilacerta n. gen. Mitteilungen. Geologische-Paläontologische Insitut Universität Hamburg, 81, 203-222.
    8. Böhme, W., & Weitschat, W. (2002). New finds of lizards in Baltic Amber (Reptilia: Squamata: Sauria: Lacertidae). Faunistische Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden, 23(6), 117-130.
    9. Barthel, H. J., Fougerouse, D., Geisler, T., & Rust, J. (2020). Fluoridation of a lizard bone embedded in Dominican amber suggests open-system behavior. PloS One, 15(2), e0228843.
    10. Bauer, A. M. (2019). Gecko adhesion in space and time: A phylogenetic perspective on the scansorial success story. Integrative and comparative biology, 59(1), 117-130. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icz020
    11. Bauer, A. M., Böhme, W., & Weitschat, W. (2005). An Early Eocene gecko from Baltic amber and its implications for the evolution of gecko adhesion. Journal of Zoology, 265(4), 327-332. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952836904006259
    12. Bolet, A., & Evans, S. E. (2010). A new lizard from the Early Cretaceous of Catalonia (Spain), and the Mesozoic lizards of the Iberian Peninsula. Cretaceous Research, 31(4), 447-457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2010.06.002
    13. Borsuk-Bialynicka, M., Lubka, M., & Bohme, W. (1999). A lizard from Baltic amber [Eocene] and the ancestry of the crown group lacertids. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 44(4), 349-382.
    14. Boulenger, G. A. (1917). A revision of the lizards of the genus Nucras. Annals of the South African Museum, 13(10), 196-216.
    15. Boulenger, G. A. (1920). Monograph of the Lacertidae (vol. 1). London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History).
    16. Castañeda, M. D. R., Sherratt, E., & Losos, J. (2014). The Mexican amber anole, Anolis electrum, within a phylogenetic context: implications for the origins of Caribbean anoles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 172(1), 133-144. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12159
    17. Conrad, J. L., & Norell, M. A. (2007). A complete Late Cretaceous iguanian (Squamata, Reptilia) from the Gobi and identification of a new iguanian clade. American Museum Novitates, 2007(3584), 1-47. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2007)3584[1:ACLCIS]2.0.CO;2
    18. Conrad, J. L. (2008). Phylogeny and systematics of Squamata (Reptilia) based on morphology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2008(310), 1-182. https://doi.org/10.1206/310.1
    19. Daza, J. D., & Bauer, A. M. (2012). A new amber-embedded sphaerodactyl gecko from Hispaniola, with comments on morphological synapomorphies of the Sphaerodactylidae. Breviora, 529(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.3099/529.1
    20. Daza, J. D., Bauer, A. M., & Snively, E. D. (2014). On the fossil record of the Gekkota. The Anatomical Record, 297(3), 433-462. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.22856
    21. Daza, J. D., Bauer, A. M., Stanley, E. L., Bolet, A., Dickson, B., & Losos, J. B. (2018). An enigmatic miniaturized and attenuate whole lizard from the Mid-Cretaceous amber of Myanmar. Breviora, 563(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3099/MCZ49.1
    22. Daza, J. D., Bauer, A. M., Wagner, P., & Böhme, W. (2013). A reconsideration of S. phaerodactylus dommeli B öhme, 1984 (Squamata: Gekkota: S. phaerodactylidae), a M iocene lizard in amber. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 51(1), 55-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12001
    23. Daza, J. D., Stanley, E. L., Wagner, P., Bauer, A. M., & Grimaldi, D. A. (2016). Mid-Cretaceous amber fossils illuminate the past diversity of tropical lizards. Science Advances, 2(3), e1501080. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501080
    24. De Queiroz, K., Chu, L. R., & Losos, J. B. (1998). A second Anolis lizard in Dominican Amber and the systematics and ecological morphology of Dominican Amber Anoles. American Museum Novitates, (3249), 1-24.
    25. Dejax, J., Masure, E., & Azar, D. (1996). Analyse palynologique d’un échantillon de sédiment du Crétacé inférieur du Liban. Strata, 1(8), 66-67.
    26. Dejax, J., Masure, E., & Azar, D. (1997). Analyse palynologique de deux échantillons de sédiment du Crétacé inférieur du Liban. XVème Symposium de l’Association des Palynologues de Langue Française. Lyon 1-3 Septembre 1997, pp. 20-21.
    27. Estes, R., De Queiroz, K., & Gauthier, J. (1988). Phylogenetic relationships within Squamata. Phylogenetic relationships of the lizard familie (Eds: R Estes, & G Pregill). Stanford: Stanford University Press, 119-281.
    28. Etheridge, R. (1959). The relationships of the anoles (Reptilia: Sauria: Iguanidae): an interpretation based on skeletal morphology (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.
    29. Etheridge, R. (1965). The abdominal skeleton of lizards in the family Iguanidae. Herpetologica, 21(3), 161-168.
    30. Fontanarrosa, G., Daza, J. D., & Abdala, V. (2018). Cretaceous fossil gecko hand reveals a strikingly modern scansorial morphology: qualitative and biometric analysis of an amber-preserved lizard hand. Cretaceous Research, 84, 120-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.11.003
    31. Gamble, T., Bauer, A. M., Greenbaum, E., & Jackman, T. R. (2008). Evidence for Gondwanan vicariance in an ancient clade of gecko lizards. Journal of Biogeography, 35(1), 88-104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01770.x
    32. Gamble, T., Daza, J. D., Colli, G. R., Vitt, L. J., & Bauer, A. M. (2011). A new genus of miniaturized and pug-nosed gecko from South America (Sphaerodactylidae: Gekkota). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 163(4), 1244-1266. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00741.x
    33. Gao, K., & Norell, M. A. (2000). Taxonomic composition and systematics of Late Cretaceous lizard assemblages from Ukhaa Tolgod and adjacent localities, Mongolian Gobi Desert. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2000(249), 1-118. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090(2000)249%3C0001:TCASOL%3E2.0.CO;2
    34. Grimaldi, D., & Engel, M. S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press, New York.
    35. Grimaldi, D., Nguyen, T., & Ketcham, R. (2000). Ultra-high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (UHR CT) and the study of fossils in amber. In: D. Grimaldi (Ed), Studies of Fossils in Amber, with Particular Reference to the Cretaceous of New Jersey. Leiden, The Netherlands: Backhuys Publishers.
    36. Grimaldi, D. A. (1995). The Age of Dominican Amber. American Chemical Society, Washington, pp. 203-217.
    37. Grimaldi, D. A. (1996). Amber: Window to the Past. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
    38. Grimaldi, D. A., Bonwich, E., Delannoy, M., & Doberstein, S. (1994). Electron microscopic studies of mummified tissues in amber fossils. American Museum Novitates, 3097, 1-31.
    39. Hutchinson, M. N., Skinner, A., & Lee, M. S. (2012). Tikiguania and the antiquity of squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes). Biology Letters, 8(4), 665-669. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.1216
    40. Itturralde-Vinent, M. A., & Macphee, R. D. E. (1996). Age and paleogeographical origin of Dominican Amber. Science, 273, 1850-1852. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.273.5283.1850
    41. Katinas, V. (1983). Baltijos Gintaras. Vilnius: Mokslas.
    42. Keyser, D., & Weitschat, W. (2005). First record of ostracods (Crustacea) in Baltic amber. Hydrobiologia, 538(1-3), 107-114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-004-5941-5
    43. Klebs, R. (1889). Ueber die Fauna des Bernsteins. Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte in Heidelberg, 62, 268-271.
    44. Klebs, R. (1910). Über Bernsteineinschlüsse im allgemeinen und die Coleopteren meiner Bernsteinsammlung. Schriften der Physikalisch-Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg, 51, 217-242.
    45. Kluge, A. G. (1995). Cladistic relationships of sphaerodactyl lizards. American Museum Novitates, 3139, 1-23.
    46. Kosmowska-Ceranowicz, B., Kulicka, R., & Gierlowska, G. (1997a). A lizard found in Baltic amber. Gdan´sk Museum of the Earth, Scientific Conferences. Abstracts, 9, 23-24.
    47. Kosmowska-Ceranowicz, B., Kulicka, R., Gierlowska, G. (1997b). Nowe znalezisko jaszczurki w bursztynie baltyckim. Przegląd Geologiczny, 45(10), 1028-1030.
    48. Krumbiegel, G. (1998). Eidechsenfund im Baltischen Bernstein. Fossilien, 2, 231-235.
    49. Langenheim, J. H. (1966). Botanical source of amber from Chiapas. Ciencia, 24, 201-211.
    50. Lazell, Jr. J. D. (1965). An Anolis (Sauria, Iguanidae) in amber. Journal of Paleontology, 379-382.
    51. Losos, J. B., Jackman, T. R., Larson, A, De Queiroz, K., & Rodríguez-Schettino, L. (1998). Contingency and determinism in replicated adaptive radiations of island lizards. Science, 279(5359), 2115-2118.
    52. MacPhee, R. D., Iturralde-Vinent, M. A., & Gaffney, E. S. (2003). Domo de Zaza, an Early Miocene Vertebrate Locality in South-Central Cuba, with Notes on the Tectonic Evolution of Puerto Rico and the Mona Passage1. American Museum Novitates, 2003(3394), 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2003)394%3C0001:DDZAEM%3E2.0.CO;2
    53. Mahler, D. L., Ingram, T., Revell, L. J., & Losos, J. B. (2013). Exceptional convergence on the macroevolutionary landscape in island lizard radiations. Science, 341(6143), 292-295. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1232392
    54. Maisano, J. A. (2000). Postnatal skeletal development in squamates: Its relationship to life history and potential phylogenetic informativeness (Doctoral thesis, Yale University, U.S.A). Retrieved from https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=5294834
    55. Maisano, J. A. (2002). Terminal fusions of skeletal elements as indicators of maturity in squamates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22, 268-275.
    56. Manthey, U., & Schuster, N. (1996). Agamid lizards. Neptune City, New Jersey: TFH Publications.
    57. Martínez-Grimaldo, R. E., Riquelme, F., Martínez-Méndez, N., Luna, B., Zúniga, L., Alvarado-Ortega, J., Loso, J. B., & Castañeda, M. D. R. (2013). Anole lizards (Squamata: Dactyloidae) from the Miocene Chiapas amber, with comments on broader aspects of anoles evolution. Paper presented at the VIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología & XIII Congreso Mexicano de Paleontología. Sociedad Mexicana de Paleontología, Guanajuato, México, pp. 63.
    58. Martı́nez-Delclòs, X., Briggs, D. E., & Peñalver, E. (2004). Taphonomy of insects in carbonates and amber. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 203(1-2), 19-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00643-6
    59. Matsumoto, R., & Evans, S. E. (2018). The first record of albanerpetontid amphibians (Amphibia: Albanerpetontidae) from East Asia. PloS One, 13(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0189767
    60. Morayma Solórzano Kraemer, M. (2007). Systematic, palaeoecology, and palaeobiogeography of the insect fauna from Mexican amber. Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1-133. https://dx.doi.org/10.1127/pala/282/2007/1
    61. Nicholson, K. E., Crother, B. I., Guyer, C., & Savage, J. M. (2012). It is time for a new classification of anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae). Zootaxa, 3477(1), 1-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3477.1.1
    62. Oliver, P. M., & Sanders, K. L. (2009). Molecular evidence for Gondwanan origins of multiple lineages within a diverse Australasian gecko radiation. Journal of Biogeography, 36(11), 2044-2055. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02149.x
    63. Penney, D. (2010). Biodiversity of fossils in amber from the major world deposits. The United Kingdom: Siri Scientific Press, Manchester.
    64. Perrichot, V., & Néraudeau, D. (2005). Reptile skin remains in the Cretaceous amber of France. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 4(1-2), 47-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.11.009
    65. Pianka, E. R., & Vitt, L. J. (2003). Lizards: windows to the evolution of diversity (vol. 5). Berkeley: University of California Press.
    66. Poe, S. (1998). Skull characters and the cladistic relationships of the Hispaniolan dwarf twig Anolis. Herpetological Monographs, 122, 192-236.
    67. Poe, S. (2004). Phylogeny of anoles. Herpetological Monographs, 18(1), 37-89.
    68. Poinar, J. G., Philbrick, K. A., Cohn, M. J., Turner, R. T., Iwaniec, U. T., & Wunderlich, J. (2017). X-ray microcomputed tomography reveals putative trematode metacercaria in a 100-million-year-old lizard (Squamata: Agamidae). Cretaceous Research, 80, 27-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.07.017
    69. Poinar, J. G. (1992). Life in amber. Standford, California: Standford University Press.
    70. Poinar, J. G., & Brown, A. E. (2002). Hymenaea mexicana sp. nov. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) from Mexican amber indicates Old World connections. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 139, 125-132. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1095-8339.2002.00053.x
    71. Polcyn, M. J., Rogers, J. V., Kobayashi, Y., & Jacobs, L. L. (2002). Computed tomography of an Anolis lizard in Dominican amber: systematic, taphonomic, biogeographic, and evolutionary implications. Palaeontologia Electronica, 5(1), 1-13.
    72. Reilly, S. M., McBrayer, L. B., & Miles, D. B. (2007). Lizard ecology, the evolutionary consequences of foraging mode. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    73. Rieppel, O. (1980a). The phylogeny of anguinomorph lizards. Denkschriften der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellshaft, 94, 1-86.
    74. Rieppel, O. (1980b). Green anole in Dominican amber. Nature, 286(5772), 486-487.
    75. Rieppel, O. (1994). The Lepidosauromorpha: an overview with special emphasis on the Squamata. In N. C. Fraser & H-D. Sues (Eds), In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs. NewYork: Cambridge University Press.
    76. Ritzkowski, S. (1997). K-Ar-Altersbestimmung der Bernsteinfuhrenden Sedimente des Samlandes (Palaogen, Bezirk Kaliningrad). Metalla (Sonderheft), 66, 19-23.
    77. Russell, A. P., & Bauer, A. M. (1989). Ungual asymmetry in the context of pedal symmetry in Ailuronyx (Reptilia Gekkonidae): Modification for an opposable grip. Journal of Zoology, 218(1), 1-9.
    78. Russell, A. P., & Bauer A. M. (1990). Digit I in pad-bearing gekkonine geckos: alternate designs and the potential constraints of phalangeal number. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 29, 453-472.
    79. Savage, J. M., & Guyer, C. (1989). Infrageneric classification and species composition of the anole genera, Anolis, Ctenonotus, Dactyloa, Norops, and Semiurus (Sauria: Iguanidae). Amphibia-Reptilia, 10, 105-116. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853889X00142
    80. Sherratt, E., del Rosario Castañeda, M., Garwood, R. J., Mahler, D. L., Sanger, T. J., Herrel, A., & Losos, J. B. (2015). Amber fossils demonstrate deep-time stability of Caribbean lizard communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(32), 9961-9966. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506516112
    81. Shi, G., Grimaldi, D. A., Harlow, G. E., Wang, J., Wang, J., Yang, M., & Li, X. (2012). Age constraint on Burmese amber based on U–Pb dating of zircons. Cretaceous research, 37, 155-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.014
    82. Simões, T. R., Caldwell, M. W., Nydam, R. L., & Jiménez-Huidobro, P. (2017). Osteology, phylogeny, and functional morphology of two Jurassic lizard species and the early evolution of scansoriality in geckoes. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 180(1), 216-241. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12487
    83. Wichard, W., & Weitschat, W. (2002). Atlas of plants and animals in Baltic amber. München: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil.
    84. Williams, E. E. (1972). The Origin of Faunas. Evolution of Lizard Congeners in a Complex Island Fauna: A Trial Analysis. New York: Springer.
    85. Williams, E. E. (1976). West Indian anoles: A taxonomic and evolutionary summary 1. Introduction and a species list. Breviora, 440, 1-21.
    86. Williams, E. E. (1983). Ecomorphs, faunas, island size, and diverse end points in island radiation of Anolis. In: L. J. Vitt & E. R. Pianka (Eds.), Lizard ecology: historical and experimental perspectives. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
    87. Williams, E. E. (1989). A critique of Guyer and Savage (1986): cladistic relationships among anoles (Sauria: Iguanidae): are the data available to reclassify the anoles? In: C. A. Woods (Ed.), Biogeography of the West Indies: Past, Present, Future. Gainesville, FL: Sandhill Crane Press.
    88. Witten, G. J. (1989). Family Agamidae. In: D. W. Walton, & B. J. Richardson (Eds.), Fauna of Australia. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing.

    How to Cite

    Wang, M. ., & Xing, L. . (2020). A Brief Review of Lizard Inclusions in Amber. Biosis: Biological Systems, 1(1), 39–53. https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.01.0050
    ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver
    Download Citation
    Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX

    HTML
    1209

    Total
    854

    Share

    Search Panel

    Miaoyan Wang
    Google Scholar
    Pubmed
    JDMFS Journal

    Lida Xing
    Google Scholar
    Pubmed
    JDMFS Journal

    Downloads

    Article Details

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.01.0050

    Published: 2020-03-04

    Most Read This Month

    License

    Copyright © 2023 EurAsia Academic Publishing Group. All rights reserved