Hoplocercidae Frost and Etheridge, 1989

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 : 81-83

Hoplocercidae Frost and Etheridge, 1989

(figs. 54A, 55A, 56A)

DIAGNOSIS: The current analysis recovers five unambiguous synapomorphies for this clade. These are 44(1) enlarged lacrimal foramen (see character description above), 60(1) a dorsoventrally inflated frontal, 190(0) splenial extending anteriorly for more than two-thirds the dentary tooth row, 258(1) one or more pair(s) of postxiphisternal inscriptional ribs confluent at midline, and 285(2) Continued.

symphysial portion of the pubis more than half again as long as the tubercular portion.

COMMENTS: This analysis includes Morunasaurus annularis , Hoplocercus spinosus , and a composite Enyalioides scored from E. palpebralis and E. laticeps . A recent study by Wiens and Etheridge (2003) with extensive sampling of hoplocercid taxa suggests the monophyly of Enyalioides . Even so, future versions of this analysis will eliminate the composite coding of Enyalioides and likely include more species of Morunasaurus . Importantly, the Adams consensus (figs. 55, 56) supports the topology of Wiens and Etheridge based on their analysis using mixed scaling of meristic characters ( Wiens and Etheridge, 2003: fig. 4).

Fig. 55.

Given the absence of a fossil record for this clade and the somewhat limited sampling for it, I refrain from attaching a definition to this taxon name. The term ‘‘Hoplocercidae’’ is usually used to refer to all species within Enyalioides , Hoplocercus , and Morunasaurus ; it is used here in that context.