Autarchoglossa
Autarchoglossa is a clade (evolutionary grouping) of squamates that includes skinks, anguimorphs, snakes, and relatives.[1] Autarchoglossa is supported as a monophyletic grouping (i.e. a valid clade) by morphological features in living and extinct lizards and snakes. Some phylogenetic analyses based on molecular features such as DNA sequences in living squamates do not support Autarchoglossa.
| Autarchoglossa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| American five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Informal group: | Scleroglossa |
| Clade: | Autarchoglossa Wagler, 1830 |
The recent proposal of the Toxicofera clade places Iguania within Autarchoglossa, which is not supported by morphological analyses. Placing Iguania within Autarchoglossa may lead to confusion as Autarchoglossa means "free-tongued", and iguanians do not have this feature. To circumvent this, it has been proposed that Autarchoglossa be renamed to Unidentata (single egg-tooth, a feature both groups share) and be redefined to include Iguania.[2]
The following are families classified within Autarchoglossa (excluding Iguania):[3]
- Anguidae Gray, 1825 – alligator lizards, anguids, galliwasps, glass lizards
- Anniellidae Nopcsa 1928 – legless lizards
- Cordylidae Mertens, 1937 – girdle-tailed lizards
- Gerrhosauridae Fitzinger, 1843 - plated lizards
- Gymnophthalmidae Merrem, 1820 - spectacled lizards
- Helodermatidae Gray, 1837 – beaded lizards
- Lacertidae Gray, 1825 – wall lizards, Old World racerunners
- Lanthanotidae Steindachner, 1877 – earless monitors
- Scincidae Gray, 1825 – skinks
- Teiidae Gray, 1827 – tegus, junglerunners, ground lizards, New World racerunners, whiptails
- Varanidae Hardwicke & Gray, 1827 – monitors
- Xantusiidae Baird, 1858 – night lizards
- Xenosauridae Cope, 1866 - knob-scaled lizards
References
- Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2008. Suborder Autarchoglossa Archived May 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed March 28, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org.
- Vidal, N. and Hedges, S.B. 2005. The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes. C.R. Biologies 328:1000-1008. available online: https://mnhn.academia.edu/NicolasVidal/Papers/450567/The_phylogeny_of_squamate_reptiles_lizards_snakes_and_amphisbaenians_inferred_from_nine_nuclear_protein-coding_genes
- "Autarchoglossa". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 March 2011.