Scale lizards
| Scale lizards | ||||||||||||
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Zebra-tailed lizard ( Callisaurus draconoides ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lepidosauria | ||||||||||||
| Duméril & Bibron , 1839 |
The order of the scale lizards (Lepidosauria) belongs to the reptiles . It comprises only two sub- taxa , the squamous reptiles (Squamata) with over 9900 species and the sphenodontia with only one recent species. Together with a number of fossil animal groups, especially the marine reptiles known as Sauropterygia , they are grouped together to form the Lepidosauromorpha .
features
The scale lizards belong to the reptiles with a diapsid skull . Compared to other recent reptile groups such as the turtles and the crocodiles , they are characterized by many common features ( apomorphies ). Above all, this includes the cross-standing cloaca , through whose development the unpaired penis of the males, which is present in the basic pattern of the amniota, was probably lost. In addition, the scale lizards have a split tongue and have a reduction in the pro-atlas and the xiphisternum . Another essential feature is the regular shedding of the entire integument . A total of 48 characters are given that confirm this taxon as monophyletic .
literature
- Wolfgang Böhme : Lepidosauria: In: W. Westheide, R. Rieger: Special Zoology. Part 2. Vertebrate or skull animals. Spektrum, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-8274-0307-3 , p. 353.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Species Numbers (August 2015) in The Reptile Database
