The Phylogeny of Anguinomorph Lizards

Anguinomorph lizards have attracted the attention of various workers for several reasons. They form a lacertilian infraorder well dermed by the subdivision of their tongue into a retractile fore-portion and a broad, elastic hind portion. The long, independent evolutionary history is documented by a rich fossil record (Hoff stetter, 1962 a). The lizards referred to the Anguinomorpha are subdivided into two suprafamilies, the Anguinoidea and the Platynota. The Anguinoidea comprise three families, the Anguidae, Xenosauridae and Anniellidae. The Platynota comprise seven families, the Helodermatidae, Parasaniwidae, Lanthanotidae, Dolichosauridae, Aigialosauridae, Mosasauridae and Varanidae. The Anguinomorpha exhibit a wide range of adaptation from the burrowing An niellidae to the Dolichosauridae, Aigialosauridae and Mosasauridae, inhabitants of the Cretaceous seas. Since the days of Nopsca (1903, 1908, 1923), Janesch (1906) and Fejervary (1918) they stand as ancestors of snakes, a view which was accepted by Camp (1923) and McDowell and Bogert (1954, see also McDowell, 1972).

Auteur
Olivier Rieppel is the Rowe Family Curator of Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Geology at the Field Museum in Chicago and an Adjunct Professor of Biological Sciences at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He has published widely on the anatomy and evolution of living and fossil reptiles, as well as on the history and philosophy of biology.

Contenu
Abstract.- Material and Methods.- The Procedure of Classification.- Problems of Terminology and the General Structure of Lacertilian Jaw Musculature.- The Head Musculature of the Gerrhonotinae.- Patterns of Variation within Gerrhonotiform Lizards.- The Head Musculature of the Diploglossinae.- Patterns of Variation within Diploglossine Lizards.- The Head Musculature of the Anguinae.- The Evolution of the M.Intermandibularis Anterior in the Anguidae.- The Phylogeny of the Anguidae based on their Head Musculature.- The Head Musculature of Shinisaurus crocodilurus.- The Head Musculature of Xenosaurus grandis.- The Xenosauridae, a Diphyletic Family?.- The Head Musculature of Anniella pulchra.- The Phylogenetic Position of the Genus Anniella.- The Head Musculature of Heloderma.- Heloderma, a Primitive Platynotan Lizard.- The Head Musculature of Varanus.- Varanus, an Advanced Platynotan.- The Head Musculature of Lanthanotus borneensis.- The Phylogenetic Position of Lanthanotus based on its Head Musculature.- Summary: A Hypothesis to test.- The Skull of Anguinomorph lizards.- The Skull of the Anguidae.- The Skull of the Xenosauridae.- The Skull of the Anniellidae.- The Skull of the Helodermatidae.- The Skull of the Lanthanotidae.- The Skull of the Varanidae.- The Atlas - Axis Complex.- The Phylogenetic Relationships of Lanthanotus: An Inquiry into the Fossil Record.- The Phylogeny and Classification of the Anguinomorpha.- Outlook: The Origin of Snakes.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Abbreviations.- Appendix I.- Appendix II....