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 propose ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

). Morphological studies in the past also classified helodermatids and pythonomorphs with the varanoids in the clade Platynota, while the

Chinese crocodile lizard The Chinese crocodile lizard (''Shinisaurus crocodilurus'') is a semiaquatic anguimorph lizard found only in cool forests in southeastern China and northeastern Vietnam. The Chinese crocodile lizard spends much of its time in shallow water or in ...

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 anguimorphs comprising Monstersauria (represented today by helodermatids) and Diploglossa (Xenosauridae Xenosauridae is a family of anguimorph lizards whose only living representative is the genus '' Xenosaurus' ...

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

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

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

Anguimorpha The Anguimorpha is a suborder of Squamata, 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 ...

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 (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 ...

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

References

Anguimorpha {{lizard-stub

See also

References