 thumb|top|opulus iguana (saxicolous) with tail twice as long as body. light grey without banding oplurus is a genus of malagasy iguanian lizard, most of which are rock-dwelling terrestrial species. the sister genus to oplurus is chalarodon, which contains one species: chalarodon madagascariensis, is a terrestrial iguana and easily distinguished from oplurus by its smaller size and the presence of a distinct dorsal crest. ==species== the six or seven species in the genus oplurus comprise two distinct clades   *spiny-tailed arboreal clade: **collared iguanid (oplurus cuvieri) **merrem's madagascar swift (oplurus cyclurus) *saxicolous (rock dwelling) clade: **madagascar blue iguana (oplurus fierinensis) (greyish-blue without dark dorsal bands) **grandidier's madagascar swift (oplurus grandidieri (with light mid-dorsal band) **dumÃ©ril's madagascar swift (oplurus quadrimaculatus) (with four dorsal bands, dorsal scales coarsely granular) **marked madagascar swift (oplurus saxicola) (different darker color pattern, dorsal scales finely granular) because of differences is appearance (i.e. the lack of a black neck band), possibly a larger body, and its geographic isolation, the form of oplurus cuvieri species found on the comoro archipelago has recently been given full species rank, as oplurus comorensis (meirte 2004). however the molecular phylogeny research concludes that this full species status is unwarranted. == distribution == all six species of oplurus are all found in [[madag
Oplurids