agamid

Etymology

noun

1. (zoology) Any of the family Agamidae of lizards, including many dragons.
   Bright male colors are exhibited primarily during sexual and aggressive displays in iguanids, agamids, chamaeleonids, gekkonids, lacertids, and teiids. 1992, William E. Dooper, Neil Greenberg, “Reptilian Coloration and Behavior”, in Carl Gans, David Crews, editors, Hormones, Brain, and Behavior, page 398
   Agamids and chamaeleonids are sister-groups, presumably with the chameleons diverging early from an agamid stock. Agamids and chameleons uniquely share an acrodont dentition on the dentary and posterior maxillary. 1993, George R. Zug, Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, page 439
   Whereas Chamaeleonidae and Iguanidae now appear to be monophyletic, Agamidae is not (Macey et al. 1997) because chameleons evolved from agamids, though they have traditionally been excluded (a problem easily resolved by recognizing a clade called Acrodonta, which includes both agamids and chameleons). 2006, Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt, Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity, page 144