Cladistic analysis of teiidae based on myological characters

Abstract

The cranial musculature of twelve (12) species of all genera of Teiidae was compared and analyzed for taxonomic significance. Using 70 myological cranial characters a cladistic analysis of the taxa mentioned was performed. Parsimony analysis were conducted with the program PeeWee. To root the trees, Sphenodon, one lacertid, six gymnophthalmids, and two scincids, were added to the matrix. Only one tree was obtained with a fit = 295.0 and length = 195. There is a split between teiids and gymnophthalmids, but no between Teiini and Tupinambini. Podarcis is part of a clade with scincids. The scincids are a monophyletic group. These clade is the sister group of gymnophthalmids, except Echinosaura and Pantodactylus which are related to teiids. Teiids are monophyletics (except for Pantodactylus).