Order - Squamata

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Infraphylum: Gnathostomata

Parvphylum: Osteichthyes

Megaclass: Tetrapoda

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Name derivation: “having scales”

  • Superfamily: Dibamia (blind skinks)
  • Superfamily: Gekkota (geckos, snake-lizards)
  • Superfamily: Scincomorpha (skinks, girdled, plated and night lizards)
  • Superfamily: Lacertoidea (wall lizards, whiptails, tegus)

Clade: Toxifera

Suborder: Anguimorpha

  • Superfamily: Platynota (monitor lizards, gila monster)
  • Superfamily: Diploglossa (galliwasps, glass lizards, worm lizards, etc.)
  • Superfamily: Shinisauroidea (Chinese crocodile lizard)

Suborder: Iguania

  • Clade: Acrodonta (chameleons, agamid lizards, etc.)
  • Clade: Plerodonta (iguanas, anoles, dragon lizards, etc.)

Suborder: Serpentes

  • Superfamily: Acrochordoidea (file snakes)
  • Superfamily: Booidea (boas)
  • Superfamily: Colubroidea (typical snakes)
  • Superfamily: Elapoidea (cobras, coral snakes, sea snakes)
  • Superfamily: Pythonoidea (pythons)
  • Superfamily: Typhlopoidea (blind snakes)
  • Superfamily: Uropeltoidea (pipe snakes, shield-tailed snakes)
  • Superfamily: Not assigned (vipers, pipe snakes, dwarf boas, etc.)

Number of Families: 73

Number of Genus: 1,154

Number of known Species: 11,769

Earliest Fossil Record:  Middle Triassic 240 mya

Habitat: Terrestrial, Marine, Freshwater

Size Range: 16 mm to 10 m

Notes: Phylogeny is debatable, structure based on Reptile Database and numbers based on Catalogue of Life as of July 2024