Diploglossa is a clade of
neoanguimorphs represented by the families
Xenosauridae
Xenosauridae is a family of anguimorph lizards whose only living representative is the genus '' Xenosaurus'', which is native to Central America. Xenosauridae also includes the extinct genera '' Exostinus'' and '' Restes''. Also known as knob-scal ...
,
Diploglossidae
Diploglossidae is a family of anguimorph lizards native to the Americas, with most genera being endemic to Hispaniola. Most members of this family (aside from the legless genus '' Ophiodes'') are known as galliwasps. They were formerly considered ...
,
Anniellidae and
Anguidae
Anguidae refers to a large and diverse family of lizards native to the Northern Hemisphere. Common characteristics of this group include a reduced supratemporal arch, striations on the medial faces of tooth crowns, osteoderms, and a lateral fold ...
, the latter three placed in the superfamily Anguioidea.
In the past the
Chinese crocodile lizard
The Chinese crocodile lizard (''Shinisaurus crocodilurus'') is a semiaquatic anguimorph lizard found only in cool forests in southeast China and northeast Vietnam. The Chinese crocodile lizard spends much of its time in shallow water or in overha ...
was classified as a xenosaurid;
current molecular work has shown evidence the species related to varanoids in the clade
Paleoanguimorpha
Paleoanguimorpha is a clade of anguimorphs comprising Shinisauria (represented today by shinisaurids) and Goannasauria (represented today by Varanoidea which includes the families Lanthanotidae and Varanidae). Morphological studies in the past ...
.
[
]
References
Anguimorpha
Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope
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