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What does “the apocalypse” mean for lizards?
Here, “apocalypse” refers to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction about 66 million years ago, associated with the asteroid impact at Chicxulub. The extinction ended the age of non-avian dinosaurs and, according to Yale’s 2025 account, eliminated about 75% of Earth’s animal species. That broad estimate is not a lizard-specific figure. Yale University’s account of the 2025 study describes the impact and the night-lizard findings.
Did lizards survive the asteroid impact?
Yes—but survival of the larger lizard lineage does not mean most lizard species made it through. A 2012 analysis of the fossil record estimated 83% species-level extinction among squamates, the group that includes lizards and snakes. The study also reported losses among several groups and a decline in morphological diversity. Major branches could persist even as most species within them disappeared. The 2012 study in PNAS details the squamate fossil-record analysis.
Which lizards are linked to survival near the impact region?
A 2025 Yale-led study focused on xantusiid night lizards, a family that lives in North and Central America. By combining molecular data from living species with fossils in a time-calibrated evolutionary tree, the researchers inferred that xantusiids had been in the region since about 92 million years ago and that at least two lineages persisted across the K–Pg boundary. Their reconstruction placed the ancestral branches of living genera around the Gulf of Mexico.
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This is evidence from evolutionary and geographic reconstruction, not a fossil snapshot of individual night lizards at the moment of impact. The study’s lead author, Chase Brownstein, described the family as the only living family of terrestrial vertebrates known to have survived the K–Pg extinction in proximity to the asteroid strike. That specific claim concerns a family near the impact region; it does not mean night lizards were the only terrestrial survivors of the extinction.
Why did night lizards survive?
The study does not identify a proven survival mechanism. Researchers have not established that burrowing, hiding in crevices, eating a particular food, or using less energy helped the ancestors get through the immediate aftermath.
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Small litters are an inference, not a demonstrated cause
Using life-history data from living night lizards, the researchers inferred that the ancestors that experienced the impact probably had small litters or clutches of one or two young. That inference challenges a simple assumption that producing more offspring must always improve a lineage’s chances during a mass extinction. It does not show that small litter size caused survival: reproduction in those ancestors is inferred from living species, not directly observed in fossils.
Modern habitat use does not reveal the ancient refuge
Despite their name, night lizards are most active during the day and twilight, according to Yale. Living species use fine-scale habitats such as rock crevices and decaying logs. Those details describe the animals today; they do not prove that their ancestors survived in those places during the impact aftermath. Brownstein cautioned that the findings do not identify any particular set of traits as best for surviving extinction.
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What do Colorado fossils show about the losses?
A separate fossil comparison gives a local view of how severe the decline could be. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science reports that researchers examined 255 lizard fossils among about 20,000 microvertebrate fossils from two Colorado sites: one representing roughly 57,000 years before the extinction and the other roughly 128,000 years after it.
| Colorado fossil locality | Timing relative to the extinction | Lizard types reported |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-boundary site | Roughly 57,000 years before | At least 27 |
| Post-boundary site | Roughly 128,000 years after | Three |
The museum characterizes the change in this sampled Colorado fauna as an extinction rate over 90%; the surviving forms were smaller and were generalists or insectivores. These figures describe the particular sites and sample, not a worldwide lizard count, and they cannot be directly compared with the 83% estimate from the broader squamate study. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s account describes the Colorado fossil comparison.
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