A new agamid lizard in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar

Abstract The first amber-embedded fossil representing the lizard family Agamidae, Protodraco monocoli gen. et sp. nov., is described in burmite of the lowermost Cenomanian (ca. 99 Ma; mid-Cretaceous) from northern Myanmar. It is among both the oldest known amber lizards and the oldest fossils of the family. The fossil is a well preserved left hind foot with shank, morphologically similar to basal taxa of modern Southeast Asian agamids. Because of the sparse Cretaceous fossil record it could provide a calibration point for divergence-time analyses and contradicts views that agamids colonized SE Asia during the Paleogene.