Varanidae Gray, 1827

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 : 123

Varanidae Gray, 1827

(figs. 55E, 56D)

DEFINITION: Varanus varius , Lanthanotus borneensis , and all descendants of their last common ancestor.

DIAGNOSIS: Varanids are united by 115(1) absence of palatine teeth, 118(1) pterygoid teeth arranged in a single line, 149(1) presence of an expansive crista tuberalis (see character description above), and 151(1) anterior location for the spheno-occipital tubercle.

COMMENTS: The present definition of Varanidae follows that of common usage and previous phylogenetic definitions (Estes et al., 1988; Pianka, 1995; Lee, 1998; Bernstein, 1999; Conrad, 2004a, 2006a, 2006b). The clade as defined here was left unnamed in Lee (1997), a study in which the name Varanidae was defined as all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with Varanus than with Lanthanotus borneensis . Caldwell (1999a) produced a hypothesis of relationships differing from that of the current analysis (fig. 8), but that is one of the only recent studies to do so.