Diploglossa Explained

Diploglossa is a clade of neoanguimorphs represented by the families Xenosauridae, Diploglossidae, Anniellidae and Anguidae, the latter three placed in the superfamily Anguioidea.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} In the past the Chinese crocodile lizard was classified as a xenosaurid;^[5] current molecular work has shown evidence the species related to varanoids in the clade Paleoanguimorpha.^{[1] [2] [6]}

Below is the phylogeny of the neoanguimorph lineages after Pyron et al. (2013):^[2]

Notes and References

1. 10.1016/j.crvi.2008.07.010 . 19281946 . The molecular evolutionary tree of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians . Comptes Rendus Biologies . 332 . 2–3 . 129–39 . 2009 . Vidal . Nicolas . Hedges . S. Blair . 23137302 . 2023-11-30 . 2024-03-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240309105919/https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.1016/j.crvi.2008.07.010/ . live .
2. Pyron . Burbrink . Wiens . 2013 . A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes . BMC Evolutionary Biology . 13 . 93 . 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93 . 23627680 . 3682911 . free .
3. Zheng. Yuchi. Wiens. John J.. Combining phylogenomic and supermatrix approaches, and a time-calibrated phylogeny for squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) based on 52 genes and 4162 species . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 2016 . 94. Pt B. 537–547 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.009. 26475614.
4. 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0703 . 22993238 . 3497141 . Resolving the phylogeny of lizards and snakes (Squamata) with extensive sampling of genes and species . Biology Letters . 8 . 6 . 1043–6 . 2012 . Wiens . J. J. . Hutter . C. R. . Mulcahy . D. G. . Noonan . B. P. . Townsend . T. M. . Sites . J. W. . Reeder . T. W. .
5. Gao . K. . Norell . M. . 1998 . Taxonomic revision of Carusia (Reptilia, Squamata) from the late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert and phylogenetic relationships of anguimorphan lizards . American Museum Novitates . 3230 . 1–55 . 2246/3367 .
6. Bhullar . B. A. S. . The power and utility of morphological characters in systematics: a fully resolved phylogeny of Xenosaurus and its fossil relatives (Squamata: Anguimorpha) . 10.3099/0027-4100-160.3.65 . Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology . 160 . 3 . 65–181. 2011 . 86328454 .