Autarchoglossa is a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

(evolutionary grouping) of

squamate Squamata (, Latin ''squamatus'', 'scaly, having scales') is the largest Order (biology), order of reptiles; most members of which are commonly known as Lizard, lizards, with the group also including Snake, snakes. With over 11,991 species, it i ...

s that includes

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

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 propose ...

snakes Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...

, and relatives. Autarchoglossa is supported as a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

grouping (i.e. a valid clade) by morphological features in living and extinct lizards and snakes. Some

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses based on molecular features such as DNA sequences in living squamates do not support Autarchoglossa. The recent proposal of the

Toxicofera Toxicofera (Latin for "toxin-bearers") is a proposed clade of squamata, scaled reptiles (squamates) that includes the snake, Serpentes (snakes), Anguimorpha (monitor lizards, Helodermatidae, beaded lizards, and alligator lizards) and Iguania (igu ...

clade places

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 ...

within Autarchoglossa, which is not supported by morphological analyses. Placing Iguania within Autarchoglossa may lead to confusion as Autarchoglossa means "free-tongued", and iguanians do not have this feature. To circumvent this, it has been proposed that Autarchoglossa be renamed to Unidentata (single egg-tooth, a feature both groups share) and be redefined to include Iguania.Vidal, N. and Hedges, S.B. 2005. The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes. ''C.R. Biologies'' 328:1000-1008. available online: https://mnhn.academia.edu/NicolasVidal/Papers/450567/The_phylogeny_of_squamate_reptiles_lizards_snakes_and_amphisbaenians_inferred_from_nine_nuclear_protein-coding_genes The following are

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

classified within Autarchoglossa (excluding Iguania): *

Anguidae Anguidae refers to a large and diverse family of lizards native to the Northern Hemisphere. It contains 9 genera and 89 extant species. Common characteristics of this group include a reduced supratemporal arch, striations on the medial faces of t ...

Gray, 1825 – alligator lizards, anguids, galliwasps, glass lizards * Anniellidae Nopcsa 1928 – legless lizards *

Cordylidae Cordylidae is a family of small- to medium-sized lizards that occur in southern and eastern Africa. They are commonly known as girdled lizards, spinytail lizards, or girdle-tail lizards. Cordylidae is closely related to the family Gerrhosaurida ...

Mertens, 1937 – girdle-tailed lizards *

Gerrhosauridae The Gerrhosauridae are a family of lizards native to Africa and Madagascar. They are close relatives of skinks and were once classified in the same family as them. Habitat Also known as plated lizards, species in the family Gerrhosauridae live ...

Fitzinger, 1843 - plated lizards *

Gymnophthalmidae Gymnophthalmidae is a family of lizards with at least 250 species, sometimes known commonly as spectacled lizards or microteiids. They are called "spectacled" because of their transparent lower eyelids, which allow them to still see with closed ...

Merrem, 1820 - spectacled lizards *

Helodermatidae The Helodermatidae or beaded lizards are a small family of lizards endemic to North America today, mainly found in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, the central lowlands of Chiapas, on the border of Guatemala, and in the Nentón River Valley, ...

Gray, 1837 – beaded lizards *

Lacertidae The Lacertidae are the family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at about 360 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group of reptiles found ...

Gray, 1825 – wall lizards, Old World racerunners * Lanthanotidae Steindachner, 1877 – earless monitors * Scincidae Gray, 1825 – skinks *

Teiidae Teiidae is a family of lacertoidean lizards native to the Americas. Members of this family are generally known as whiptails or racerunners; however, tegus also belong to this family. Teiidae is sister to the Gymnophthalmidae, Gymnopthalmidae, and ...

Gray, 1827 – tegus, junglerunners, ground lizards, New World racerunners, whiptails *

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

Hardwicke & Gray, 1827 – monitors * Xantusiidae Baird, 1858 – night lizards *

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-sca ...

Cope, 1866 - knob-scaled lizards

References

Scincogekkonomorpha {{lizard-stub