Opluridae, Moody, 1983

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 : 74

Opluridae + Tropidurinae + Liolaemus + Leiocephalus

(figs. 55A, 56A)

DIAGNOSIS: This clade is supported by six unambiguous synapomorphies in the current analysis. These are presence of 9(1) dermal sculpturing on the prefrontal, 29(0) steeply inclined anterior margin of the maxillary nasal process, 121(1) midline contact of the palatines, 143(1) posterolateral sphenoid flanges ventrolaterally overlying the basioccipital, 180(1) elongate lateral portion of the dentary extending along the mandible to a point at least half way between the coronoid eminence and the mandibular glenoid, 185(0) dentary without a notch distinguishing coronoid and surangular processes, and 190(0) splenial extending far anteriorly.

COMMENTS: The current analysis does not recover unambiguous support for a monophyletic Tropiduridae sensu Frost and Etheridge (1989) . Recent phylogenetic analyses have suggested the polyphyly of tropidurids and polychrotids ( Frost et al., 2001; Schulte et al., 2003). However, two recent morphological analyses suggest tropidurid monophyly (Conrad et al., 2007; Conrad and Norell, 2007a). The first run of the current analysis also supports tropidurid monophyly, but the additional 1000 ratchet replicates lost support for this clade in each, the strict and the Adams consensuses. The presence of a clade containing all tropidurids sensu lato and oplurids is consistent with some networks recovered Frost and Etheridge (1989).