Eublepharidae Boulenger, 1883

Conrad, J. L., 2008, Phylogeny And Systematics Of Squamata (Reptilia) Based On Morphology, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2008 (310), pp. 1-182 : 95-96

Eublepharidae Boulenger, 1883

(figs. 54B, 55B)

DEFINITION: All taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with Eublepharis hardwickii than with Gekko gecko or Pygopus lepidopus .

DIAGNOSIS: The eublepharid taxa included in this analysis are joined by four unambiguous synapomorphies. These are 32(1) presence of a palatine flange of the maxilla, 36(1) pares frontales contact at midline, 74(2) frontal tabs of the parietal extending anteriorly onto the ventral surface of the frontal, and 211(2) teeth closely packed together (ctenodont).

COMMENTS: Eublepharis hardwickii , the type species for the type genus of Eublepharidae , is used in the definition of this group, even though Eublepharis does not appear in the present analysis. Morphological ( Grismer, 1988) and molecular ( Ota et al., 1999; Han et al., 2004) studies recover the monophyly of a clade including Eublepharis , Aeluroscalabotes felinus , Coleonyx mitratus , and Hemitheconyx caudicinctus . Thus, E. hardwickii is presumed to be a member of the clade represented by A. felinus , C. mitratus , and H. caudicinctus in the present analysis. This relationship will be further analyzed elsewhere.