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Paramacellodidae
Paramacellodidae is an extinct family of lizards that first appeared in the Middle Jurassic around 170 million years ago (Ma) and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous around 66 Ma. It was one of the earliest groups of lizards to have undergone an evolutionary radiation, with members found across the supercontinent Laurasia. The phylogenetic relationships and constituent species of Paramacellodidae are uncertain. Many studies regard them to be scincomorphs, a large group that includes skinks and their closest extinct relatives, and possibly also to Cordyoidea, a group that includes spinytail lizards and relatives. Like modern skinks, paramacelloidids had rectangular bony plates called osteoderms covering most of their bodies, including their backs, undersides, and tails. They also had short and robust limbs. Paramacellodids are distinguished from other lizards by the combination two traits in their dentition, the teeth are labiolingually expanded at their bases, and the to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scincomorpha
Scincomorpha is an infraorder and clade of lizards including skinks (Scincidae) and their close relatives. These include the living families Cordylidae (girdled lizards), Gerrhosauridae (plated lizards), and Xantusiidae (night lizards), as well as many extinct taxa. Other roughly equivalent terms include the suborder Scinciformata, or the superfamily Scincoidea, though different authors use these terms in a broader or more restricted usage relative to true skinks. They first appear in the fossil record about 170 million years ago, during the Jurassic period.Evans, S.E. and Jones, M.E.H. (2010). "The Origin, Early History and Diversification of Lepidosauromorph Reptiles," pp. 27-44 in Bandyopadhyay, S. (ed.), ''New Aspects of Mesozoic Biodiversity'', 27 Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 132./ref> The phylogeny below follows that of Alifanov in 2016. Image:Polyglyphanadon sternbergi - IMG 0694.jpg, '' Polyglyphanodon, Polyglyphanodon sternbergi'' File:Bronze Grass Skink (Mabuya ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudosaurillus
''Pseudosaurillus'' is a genus of extinct lizard from the Early Cretaceous of southern England. The type and only species is ''Pseudosaurillus becklesi'', named in 1967 by R. Hoffstetter limited jaw and tooth material from the Berriasian Lulworth Formation. A large amount of material that was additionally referred to '' Saurillus'' by Hoffstetter was reassigned to ''Pseudosaurillus'' in 1983 by Estes, but this has since been reclassified within its own genus '' Parasaurillus'' by Susan E. Evans and Belinda Searle in 2002. The taxon was found in the Mammal Bed near the base of the formation alongside the other lizards '' Becklesius'', ''Dorsetisaurus'', ''Durotrigia'', '' Paramacellodus'', ''Parasaurillus'', ''Parviraptor'' and ''Saurillus''. Like ''Becklesius'', ''Pseudosaurillus'' may be a member of the family Paramacellodidae Paramacellodidae is an extinct family of lizards that first appeared in the Middle Jurassic around 170 million years ago (Ma) and became extinct at the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sharovisaurus
''Sharovisaurus'' is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizard from the Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan. It belongs to an extinct family of Mesozoic lizards called Paramacellodidae, which existed across most of Laurasia during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The type and only species is ''Sharovisaurus karatauensis'', named in 1984 on the basis of a nearly complete articulated skeleton from the Oxfordian-aged Karabastau Formation. The back and tail of the skeleton are covered in rectangular-shaped bony plates called osteoderms, which have a similar arrangement to those of modern skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...s. At in length from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail, ''Sharovisaurus'' was one of the largest paramacellodids. Like other paramacello ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sciroseps
''Sciroseps'' is an extinct genus of scincomorph squamates known from a partial left mandible, UA-2016-13-294, from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Holly Creek Formation of the Trinity Group in Arkansas, USA. The type and only species is ''Sciroseps pawhuskai''. Its generic name is derived from Greek ''"σκυρος: skiros" (gypsum),'' and ''"σεπος: sepos" (lizard or snake);'' and its species name refers to historic Osage chief Pawhuska. ''Sciroseps'' is thought to be related to a clade containing the extinct Paramacellodidae and the extant Cordylidae. Suarez ''et al.'' list the defining autapomorphies In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to t ... for this taxon as a more gracile and convex dentary, less robust and shorter subdental laminae, dental coronae lacking lingu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atokasaurus
''Atokasaurus'' is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizard from the Early Cretaceous of Oklahoma. The type and only species is ''Atokasaurus metarsiodon'', named in 2002 on the basis of a single isolated lower jaw bone found within the Antlers Formation in Atoka County. It is similar in appearance to extinct lizards in the family Paramacellodidae and may itself be a paramacellodid, although the phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ... relationships of the group are uncertain. ''Atokasaurus'' differs from other paramacellodids in having teeth in the lower jaw with enlarged bases and an S-shaped profile when viewed edge-on. References Early Cretaceous reptiles of North America Cretaceous lizards Fossil taxa described in 2002 {{paleo-lizard-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramacellodus
''Paramacellodus'' is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizards from the Early Cretaceous of England and France, and the Late Jurassic of Portugal and the western United States. The type species, ''Paramacellodus oweni'', was named in 1967 from the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) Purbeck Group in Dorset, England. Additional material referable to a species of ''Paramacellodus'', possibly ''P. oweni'', has been described from the Morrison Formation, specifically in Como Bluff, Wyoming, and Dinosaur National Monument, Utah.Foster, J. (2007). "Table 2.1: Fossil Vertebrates of the Morrison Formation." ''Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World''. Indiana University Press. pp. 58–59. An indeterminate species is known from the Berriasian aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in France.Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia although some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon. Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as "legless lizards"), have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some such as the forest-dwelling ''Draco'' lizards are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting off other males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Skinks are characterized by their smaller legs in comparison to typical lizards and are found in different habitats except arctic and subarctic regions. Description Skinks look like lizards of the family Lacertidae (sometimes called ''true lizards''), but most species of skinks have no pronounced neck and relatively small legs. Several genera (e.g., ''Typhlosaurus'') have no limbs at all. This is not true for all skinks, however, as some species such as the red-eyed crocodile skink have a head that is very distinguished from the body. These lizards also have legs that are relatively small proportional to their body size. Skinks' skulls are covered by substantial bony scales, usually matching up in shape and size, while overlapping. Other gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurasia
Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split and finally broke apart with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean c. 56 Mya. The name is a portmanteau of Laurentia and Asia. Laurentia, Avalonia, Baltica, and a series of smaller terranes, collided in the Caledonian orogeny c. 400 Ma to form Laurussia (also known as Euramerica, or the Old Red Sandstone Continent). Laurussia then collided with Gondwana to form Pangaea. Kazakhstania and Siberia were then added to Pangaea 290–300 Ma to form Laurasia. Laurasia finally became an independent continental mass when Pangaea broke up into Gondwana and Laurasia. Terminology and origin of the concept Laurentia, the Palaeozoic core of North America and continental fragments that now make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic Relationship
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups of organisms. These relationships are determined by Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference methods that focus on observed heritable traits, such as DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, or morphology. The result of such an analysis is a phylogenetic tree—a diagram containing a hypothesis of relationships that reflects the evolutionary history of a group of organisms. The tips of a phylogenetic tree can be living taxa or fossils, and represent the "end" or the present time in an evolutionary lineage. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about the ancestral line, and does n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinytail Lizard
The genus ''Cordylus'' (Sauria: Cordylidae) includes a wide variety of species of small to medium spiny lizards from Africa, collectively called girdle-tailed lizards or girdled lizards. All are diurnal and ovoviviparous (live-bearing, without shelled eggs). Most species are rupicolous (rock-dwelling), while a few species are arboreal or live in burrows. They defend themselves with osteoderms (flat bony plates in the skin) and by quickly retreating into rock crevices or burrows. Many species live in groups, and males defend territories. Cordylids are generally listed under CITES Appendix II. They are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but trade is controlled to prevent overexploitation. Some species of ''Cordylus'' have limited ranges and may be threatened with habitat destruction or over collecting for the pet trade. Classification Broadley (2006) recognized 47 species in the genus ''Cordylus'', including eight species originally placed in the genus '' Pseudocordylus'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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