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The phylogeny of varanoid lizards and the affinities of snakes

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Lee, M. S. Y.
Abstract	Evidence that platynotan squamates (living varanoid lizards, snakes and their fossil relatives) are monophyletic is presented. Evolutionary relationships within this group are then ascertained through a cladistic analysis of 144 osteological characters. Mosasauroids (aigialosaurs and mosasaurs), a group of large marine lizards, are identified as the nearest relatives of snakes, thus resolving the long-standing problem of snake affinities. The mosasauroid–snake clade (Pythonomorpha) is corroborated by 40 derived characters, including recumbent replacement teeth, thecodonty, four or fewer premaxillary teeth, supratemporal–prootic contact, free mandibular tips, crista circumfenestralis, straight vertical splenio-angular joint, loss of posterior ramus of the coronoid, reduced basipterygoid processes, reduced interpterygoid vacuity, zygosphene–zygantral articulations, and absence of epiphyses on the axial skeleton and skull. After mosasauroids, the next closest relatives of snakes are varanids (Varanus, Saniwa and Saniwides) and lanthanotids (Lanthanotus and Cherminotus). Derived features uniting varanids and lanthanotids include nine cervical vertebrae and three or fewer pairs of sternal ribs. The varanid–lanthanotid–pythonomorph clade, here termed Thecoglossa, is supported by features such as the anteriorly positioned basal tubera, and the loss of the second epibranchial. Successive outgroups to thecoglossans are Telmasaurus, an unresolved polytomy (Estesia, Gobidermatidae and Helodermatidae), Paravaranus and Proplatynota. The 'necrosaurs' are demonstrated to be an artificial (polyphyletic) assemblage of primitive platynotans that are not particularly closely related to each other.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1997.0005
Ending Page	91
Page Count	39
Starting Page	53
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09628436
e-ISSN	14712970
Journal	Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Issue Number	1349
Volume Number	352
Language	English
Publisher Date	1997-01-29
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all) Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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