("Platy" flat, and "nota" back; from Greek.)

Platynotans are a small but important assembly of lizards of intense evolutionary interest. It is strongly believed that the snakes are derived from the Platynota.

The three families of this group possess long, snake-like tongues, well developed limbs with strongly-clawed digits, moveable eyelids, and have lost the ability to regrow a lost tail. The group was cosmopolitan during the Cretaceous and early Tertiary, but has since become confined to the Old World (Lanthanotidae and Varanidae) and a strip from Arizona south to Guatemala (Helodermatidae).

Platynotans include the largest land-living lizards known, both living and extinct.

The extant families are:

    Varanidae Monitors

    Lanthanotidae Earless monitor