Paleoanguimorpha is a clade 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 ...

s comprising Shinisauria (represented today by shinisaurids) and Goannasauria (represented today by

Varanoidea Varanoidea is a superfamily of lizards, including the well-known family Varanidae (the monitors and goannas). Also included in the Varanoidea are the Lanthanotidae (earless monitor lizards), and the extinct Palaeovaranidae. Throughout their lon ...

which includes the families

Lanthanotidae The earless monitor lizard (''Lanthanotus borneensis'') is a semiaquatic, brown lizard native to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. It is the only living species in the family Lanthanotidae and it is related to the true monitor lizards. Taxo ...

and

Varanidae The Varanidae are a family of lizards in the superfamily Varanoidea within the Anguimorpha group. The family, a group of carnivorous and frugivorous lizards, includes the living genus '' Varanus'' and a number of extinct genera more closely rel ...

). Morphological studies in the past also classified

helodermatid ''Heloderma'' is a genus of toxicoferan lizards that contains five species, all of which are venomous. It is the only extant genus of the family Helodermatidae. Description The genus ''Heloderma'' contains the Gila monster (''H. suspectum'') ...

s and pythonomorphs with the varanoids in the clade

Platynota Platynota is a polyphyletic group of anguimorph lizards and thus belongs to the order Squamata of the class Reptilia. Since it was named in 1839, it has included several groups, including monitor lizards, snakes, mosasaurs, and helodermatids. ...

, while 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 over ...

was classified as a xenosaurid. Current molecular work finds no support in these groupings and instead has found the helodermatids more related to Diploglossa in the sister clade

Neoanguimorpha Neoanguimorpha is a clade of Anguimorpha, anguimorphs comprising Monstersauria (represented today by Helodermatidae, helodermatids) and Diploglossa (Xenosauridae and Anguioidea). Morphological studies in the past had classified helodermatids with ...

, while the Chinese crocodile lizard is the closet living relative to varanoids. Pythonomorphs represented by

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s today are not closely related to varanoids and are instead a sister lineage to

Anguimorpha 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 propos ...

and

Iguania Iguania is an infraorder of squamate reptiles that includes iguanas, chameleons, agamids, and New World lizards like anoles and phrynosomatids. Using morphological features as a guide to evolutionary relationships, the Iguania are believed ...

in the clade

Toxicofera Toxicofera (Greek for "those who bear toxins") is a proposed clade of scaled reptiles (squamates) that includes the Serpentes (snakes), Anguimorpha (monitor lizards, gila monster, and alligator lizards) and Iguania ( iguanas, agamas, and ch ...

. Below is the phylogeny of the paleoanguimorph lineages after Pyron ''et al.'' (2013):

References

Anguimorpha {{lizard-stub

See also

References