Diploglossidae is a family of

anguimorph The Anguimorpha is a suborder of squamates. The group was named by Fürbringer in 1900 to include all autarchoglossans closer to '' Varanus'' and ''Anguis'' than ''Scincus''. These lizards, along with iguanians and snakes, constitute the propo ...

lizards native to the Americas, with most genera being

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

. Most members of this family (aside from the legless genus '' Ophiodes'') are known as galliwasps. They were formerly considered a subfamily of

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 ...

, but genetic evidence has shown them to be less closely related to other members of Anguidae than Anniellidae is.

Taxonomy

Phylogenetic evidence supports an early

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

origin for the family. Species were previously only classified into 3 genera ('' Celestus'', '' Diploglossus'', and '' Ophiodes''), but a 2021 study found these genera to be

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

, and thus further split them into more genera, classified within 3 different

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

(the celestines, diploglossines, and siderolamprines). The siderolamprines and a single celestine radiated throughout most of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, the diploglossines radiated throughout

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, and both the celestines and diploglossines radiated throughout the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Classification

The family contains the following genera: * Family Diploglossidae ** Subfamily Celestinae *** Genus '' Advenus'' - mountain forest galliwasp (one species) *** Genus '' Caribicus'' - Hispaniolan giant galliwasps (two extant species, one possibly extinct species) *** Genus '' Celestus'' - Jamaican galliwasps (eight extant species, three possibly extinct species) *** Genus '' Comptus'' (three species) *** Genus '' Panolopus'' (three species) *** Genus '' Sauresia'' - four-toed galliwasp (one species) *** Genus '' Wetmorena'' - earless galliwasps (two species) ** Subfamily Diploglossinae *** Genus '' Diploglossus'' (11 species) *** Genus '' Ophiodes'' - worm lizards (six species) ** Subfamily Siderolamprinae *** Genus '' Siderolamprus'' (14 species)

Description

Most galliwasps are larger lizards, with normally proportioned and complete limbs. They superficially resemble

skinks 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. Sk ...

, and due to their bright coloration and size, are falsely assumed to be venomous. They occupy terrestrial habitats.

References

External links

"''Celestus''"
at The Reptile Database
"''Diploglossus''"
at The Reptile Database Diploglossidae Taxa named by Marie Firmin Bocourt {{Lizard-stub