Proxestops jepseni, sensu Gauthier, 1982

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 : 117

Proxestops jepseni + Xestops vagans

(figs. 54D, 55D)

DIAGNOSIS: This unnamed clade is supported by one unambiguous synapomorphy: 173(2) dentary contributing to the margin of the anterior surangular foramen.

COMMENTS: Neither of these species is well preserved. Gauthier (1982) suggested that Proxestops jepseni represents a good potential structural intermediate between the Cretaceous anguid Odaxosaurus piger and the Eocene Xestops vagans , a view supported by Estes (1983). The present analysis offers a phylogenetic hypothesis consistent with that scenario. Note that this analysis recovers autapomorphies for X. vagans , but none for P. jepseni . Although the fragmentary nature of known P. jepseni material is probably at least partly responsible for this result, it supports Gauthier’s (1982) hypothesis.