A Phylogenetic Analysis of Cranial Osteology in the Gerrhonotine Lizards

Abstract

The skulls of five genera and 13 species of gerrhonotine lizards were examined to accumulate characters useful in elucidating phylogenetic relationships within the group; 97 characters that are variable among the major species groups were found. Ancestral and derived states were estimated through outgroup comparison, using the other extant anguid subfamilies (the Anguinae and Diploglossinae) as outgroups. Among the hypotheses of relationships that were generated, one appears to be especially robust and it is compared with those of previous workers.