Definitions for "Norops"
Norops is the proposed generic name for 150 lizard species traditionally classified in the genus Anolis (family, Iguanidae). Guyer and Savage (1986) applied this name to a group that Etheridge (1959) designated the "beta anoles" on the basis of skeletal characters that distinguished them from all other anole species (i.e., "the alpha anoles"). Although Norops is clearly a distinct, monophyletic group, it renders the "alpha anoles" paraphyletic.