Largest genus of lizards

With 436 described species (as of 8 February 2020), the largest lizard genus is Anolis – commonly known as anoles. Native to northern South America, Central America, south-eastern USA and the Caribbean, these iguanid lizards are arboreal and typically grow between 12 and 45 centimetres (5 and 18 inches) in length.

There are 561 lizard genera containing 6,635 species, so Anolis therefore accounts for 6.56% of all lizards while the five largest genera (below) contain 1,290 spp. and account for 19.44% of all lizards.

1. Anolis (American anole lizards) Dactyloidae: 435 spp.

2. Cyrtodactylus (Asian bent-toed geckos) Gekkonidae: 287 spp.

3. Liolaemus (South American tree lizards) Liolaemidae: 263 spp.

4. Hemidactylus (house & half-toed geckos) Gekkonidae: 158 spp.

5. Cnemaspis (Afro-Asian rock, day & forest geckos) Gekkoniade: 147 spp.

Some biologists and taxonomists have proposed that many of these species should be relocated to different genera, in which case the Anolis group would be much diminished, but this is an ongoing debate.