Dracaena

Dracaena, is a genus of lizards, also commonly called caiman lizards or water tegus, in the family Teiidae, along with tegus and ameivas. Caiman lizards are native to South America, where they are found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru. These semiaquatic lizards spend a lot of time in the water and inhabit marshes, streams, and flooded forests. Caiman lizards often bask on branches overhanging the water.

Dracaena

Bloopityboop · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
caiman lizardPBDB
Sits inside
TeiidaePBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB, for Teiidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Teiidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesMiocene — about 27 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence11.63 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Dracaena on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

28 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

6 formations

La Victoria — 3.32°N, 75.17°WLa Victoria — 3.30°N, 75.13°WLa Victoria — 3.25°N, 75.13°WLa Victoria — 3.37°N, 75.14°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.15°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.22°WNgorora — 0.88°N, 35.80°ETiim — 0.84°N, 35.82°ESolimoes — 10.94°S, 69.34°WNeyveli — 11.54°N, 79.48°E

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The named rock units Dracaena has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dracaena and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dracaena and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

287 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Dracaena, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 28 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Dracaena

Credit
Bloopityboop
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dracaena guianensis · mvz:amphibian and reptile specimens:79247

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
heyyodd
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTeiidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Daudin 1802