Alopoglossidae

Alopoglossidae is a family of small lizards, sometimes called shade lizards or largescale lizards, containing a single genus, Alopoglossus, with 32 recognized species. They range from Costa Rica in Central America through northern South America. These are small lizards with relatively large scales, a trait reflected in the common name largescale lizard, and they typically favor shaded microhabitats. The family sits within the superfamily Gymnophthalmoidea in the order Squamata; its species were once placed under the synonym Ptychoglossus, first used in 1890, until a taxonomic revision in 2016 established Alopoglossidae as its own distinct family.