With the popularity of science fiction being what it is today, few people have not seen a Lost Island-type picture where the bold scientist and hid party encounter the “last surviving dinosaurs.” One fact pervades all the grand attempts of the cinema to depict a dinosaur: all dinosaurs have to have crests, frills, or spines. The lizards and crocodiles used in these movies are always adorned with this fancy make-up.
But among the vast array of living lizards, few of the large ones possess such fancy accouterments, while many small forms are more bizarre that anything Hollywood could conceive. The large iguanas do have dorsal crests, but nothing like what one sees in the movies. Admittedly, there are a few large forms like Hydrosaurus which would fit the bill nicely, but they are exceptional.
Considered to be fairly plain lizards, the genus Anolis has members with a developed caudal sail, while males of the genus as a whole are known for their bright throat fans. The true chameleons have great diversity in facial horns, as do the agamid lizards of the genus Harpesaurus. Ceratophora has a single horn-like flap on the tip of its snout, while Lyriocephalus has a small globe on theirs.
The Australian lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii may have the most unique accessory of all. On either side of the body is a large flap of skin. When alarmed, the lizard extends these flaps even with the head, greatly enlarging its appearance. This trait has earned it the name of frilled dragon.
The list of bizarre forms goes on with the American horned lizards (Phrynosoma) and the Australian moloch (Moloch). There exists the beautiful union of form and function in the wings of Draco. Certain Central American teiids, genus Proctoporus, have light-reflecting spots along their sides; one form may even be bioluminescent.
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