Lacertoidea

Red worm lizard Amphisbaena alba, photographed by Diogo B. Provete.

Belongs within: Lepidosauria.
Contains: Lacertidae, Gymnophthalmidae, Teiidae.

The Lacertoidea are a group of lizards including the Old World Lacertidae and the New World Teioidea. It has recently been indicated that the Amphisbaenia, burrowing lizards with reduced or absent limbs, are also members of this clade (Müller et al. 2011). Members of the genus Bipes of southern North America retain small forelimbs whereas other amphisbaenians are limbless.

Potential lacertoids also include the Polyglyphanodontia, an Upper Cretaceous group of lizards characterised by tricuspid teeth, subapical tooth implantation, a V-shaped dentary symphysis, and a long splenial that slots into the subdental shelf (Longrich et al. 2012).

<==Lacertoidea L05
    |--Lacertibaenia MH11
    |    |--Lacertidae MH11
    |    `--+--Cryptolacerta Müller, Hipsley et al. 2011 MH11
    |       |    `--*C. hassiaca Müller, Hipsley et al. 2011 MH11
    |       `--Amphisbaenia MH11
    |            |  i. s.: Spathorhynchus fossorium MH11
    |            |         Plesiorhineura LBG12
    |            |         Oligodontosaurus LBG12
    |            |         Anniealexandria LBG12
    |            |--Rhineura [Rhineuridae] MH11
    |            |    |--R. floridana MH11
    |            |    `--R. hatcherii MH11
    |            `--+--+--Blanus Wagler 1830 B89 [Blanidae MH11]
    |               |  |    |--B. cinereus MH11
    |               |  |    `--B. strauchi MH11
    |               |  `--Bipes [Bipedidae] MH11
    |               |       |--B. biporus MH11
    |               |       |--B. canaliculatus MH11
    |               |       `--B. tridactylus MH11
    |               `--+--Trogonophidae MH11
    |                  |    |--Trogonophis wiegmanni MH11
    |                  |    `--Diplometophon zarudnyi MH11
    |                  `--Amphisbaenidae MH11
    |                       |--Omoiotyphlops gracilis B89
    |                       |--Loveridgea ionidesii MH11
    |                       `--Amphisbaena Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |                            |--A. alba Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |                            |--A. cubana GH01
    |                            |--A. ewerbecki XS11
    |                            |--A. fuliginosa Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |                            |    |--A. f. fuliginosa DS86
    |                            |    |--A. f. bassleri DS86
    |                            |    `--A. f. varia DS86
    |                            `--A. xera MH11
    `--+--Teioidea MH11
       |    |--Gymnophthalmidae MH11
       |    `--Teiidae MH11
       `--Polyglyphanodontia [Borioteiioidea] LBG12
            |  i. s.: Obamadon Longrich, Bhullar & Gauthier 2012 LBG12
            |           `--*O. gracilis Longrich, Bhullar & Gauthier 2012 LBG12
            |         Cnephasaurus LBG12
            |         Glyptogenys LBG12
            |         Sphenosaigon LBG12
            |         Dicothodon LBG12
            |         Geronticeps LBG12
            |         Kleskunsaurus LBG12
            |--Chamopsiidae LBG12
            |    |--Tripennaculus eatoni LBG12
            |    `--+--Leptochamops segnis LBG12
            |       `--+--Meniscognathus altmani LBG12
            |          |--Peneteius aquilonius LBG12
            |          `--+--+--Chamops segnis MH11, LBG12
            |             |  `--Haptosphenus placodon LBG12
            |             `--+--Stypodontosaurus melletes LBG12
            |                `--Socognathus Gao & Fox 1996 LBG12
            |                     |--*S. unicuspis Gao & Fox 1996 LBG12
            |                     `--S. brachyodon Longrich, Bhullar & Gauthier 2012 LBG12
            `--+--Adamisaurus MH11
               `--+--+--Gobinatus MH11
                  |  `--+--Erdenetesaurus MH11
                  |     `--Cherminsaurus MH11
                  `--Polyglyphanodontidae [Polyglyphanodontia] MH11
                       |--Polyglyphanodon Gilmore 1940 MH11, D07
                       |    |--P. bajaensis SBL05
                       |    `--P. sternbergi SBL05
                       `--+--Sineoamphisbaena Wu, Brinkman et al. 1993 MH11, D07
                          |    `--S. hexatubularis D07
                          `--+--Macrocephalosaurus ferrugenous MH11, LBG12
                             `--Darchansaurus MH11

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B89] Bailon, S. 1989. Les amphibiens et les reptiles du Pliocene superieur de Balaruc II (Herault, France). Palaeovertebrata 19 (1): 7–28.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[DS86] Dixon, J. R., & P. Soini. 1986. The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru. Milwaukee Public Museum: Milwaukee.

[GH01] Garrido, O. H., & S. B. Hedges. 2001. A new anole from the northern slope of the Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba (Squamata: Iguanidae). Journal of Herpetology 35 (3): 378–383.

[L05] Lee, M. S. Y. 2005. Squamate phylogeny, taxon sampling, and data congruence. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 5: 25–45.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[LBG12] Longrich, N. R., B.-A. S. Bhullar & J. A. Gauthier. 2012. Mass extinction of lizards and snakes at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109 (52): 21396–21401.

[MH11] Müller, J., C. A. Hipsley, J. J. Head, N. Kardjilov, A. Hilger, M. Wuttke & R. R. Reisz. 2011. Eocene lizard from Germany reveals amphisbaenian origins. Nature 473: 364–367.

[SBL05] Sullivan, R. M., A. C. Boere & S. G Lucas. 2005. Redescription of the ceratopsid dinosaur Torosaurus utahensis (Gilmore, 1946) and a revision of the genus. Journal of Paleontology 79 (3): 564–582.

[XS11] Xu, X., C. Sullivan, M. Pittman, J. N. Choiniere, D. Hone, P. Upchurch, Q. Tan, D. Xiao, L. Tan & F. Han. 2011. A monodactyl nonavian dinosaur and the complex evolution of the alvarezsauroid hand. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108 (6): 2338–2342.

Last updated: 9 August 2017.