The Phylogeny of Anguinomorph Lizards by Olivier Rieppel
English | PDF | 1980 | 86 Pages | ISBN : 3764312246 | 19.6 MB
The phylogenetic relationships of anguinomorph lizards are reconsidered on the basis of the structure of the head musculature, of the skull, and of the atlas - axis complex. A basal dichotomy separates the Anguinomorpha into the Anguinoidea and Platynota. The most primitive Anguinoidea are gerrhonotiform lizards. They share common ancestry with a hypothetical common ancestor of the Anguinae and Diploglossinae. Anniella is most closely related to the Anguinae among the Anguinoidea. The relationships of XenosaulUs and ShinisaulUs are poorly determinable on the basis of present evidence. For reasons of parsimony, the two genera are included within the same family, the Xenosauridae, which is tentatively derived from the transitional field leading from the Gerrhono- tinae to the hypothetical ancestor of the Anguinae and Diploglossinae.