Anolis Fossil Jaw Teeth Prehistoric Lizard Reptile Oligocene Cenozoic Collectiion

Rare Fossil Jaw with Teeth Prehistoric Lizard Primitive Reptile Anolis sp. mm 1 x 1 Iguana Saurians Squamata Oligocene Cenozoic Tertiary Collecting Paleontology Museum.

Difficult to find, fossil findfrom the Arikareean (Late Oligocene) Brooksville 2 site in Florida of excellent quality with appreciable, very well preserved details of the teeth and the maxillary portion.
Not restored at all. Only a piece, as in photos.

The fossils are found in fissures in the rock and have been interpreted as the inhabitants and prey of the animals that lived in the caves. The presence of bat fossils confirms the hypothesis that these fissures were part of a cave system.
All our material coming from this locality is part of the endemic microfauna, with most of the pieces measuring about 3 mm in length. Magnification is needed to properly visualize these fossils, but they are wonderful examples of an ancient cave environment of 28 million years.

Anolis (Daudin, 1802) is a genus of lizards that currently includes nearly 400 living species known as ants. It is the most species-rich amniotic tetrapod species in the world, and yet it is the only genus of the Dactyloidae family (Reptilia, Squamata, Lacertilia (Sauria), Iguania).
After appearing on each of the four major Antarctic islands some 50 million years ago, Anolis lizards spread out on each island to occupy the niches of the trees. Some live in the crown area, others lower on the tree trunk near the ground; others in the central part of the trunk, others on the twigs. Each new species has developed its own distinct body type, called ecomorphous, adapted to the niche of the tree in which it lives. Anolis lizards are some of the best examples of adaptive radiation and convergent evolution. A study of lizard fossils trapped in amber shows that these layered lizard communities have existed for about 20 million years or more. The close comparison of lizard fossils with their living descendants in the Caribbean shows that lizards have changed little in millions of years.
Morphologically, they are small saurians with long legs and claws. Their peculiarity is to have a large jugular sack (often called a ruff) that is normally kept folded, but can be deployed by a complex mechanism of the hyoid to mark the personal territory, during the performances preceding the coupling and in the threatening attitudes towards the rivals. The statues are oviparous. During the period of mating, the male expands his own ruff to attract females to himself thanks to its colors. The genus is widespread in the New World, from the southeastern United States to the northern part of South America.