Agamid lizard (Agamidae: Uromastycinae) from the lower Oligocene of Egypt

Agamid lizards are currently found in Africa, Asia, the eastern Mediterranean region and Australia. Together with the Chamaeleonidae and some extinct basal forms, they comprise the Acrodonta, lizards with acrodont dentition. The Acrodonta have been suggested to have a Gondwanan origin, with the oldest members found in the Triassic of India. The first agamids are known from the Late Cretaceous of Asia, and the group is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere throughout much of the Paleogene. However, the fossil history of Acrodonta on the Afro-Arabian plate is extremely limited: a single jaw fragment bearing acrodont dentition, possibly attributable to Agamidae, has been reported from the Paleogene of Morocco, and material identified as agamid was reported from the Oligocene of Oman. We here add to the African record the first clear evidence of Agamidae, represented by several jaws with attached teeth from earliest Oligocene deposits of the Jebel Qatrani Formation in the Fayum Depression, Egypt. Char...