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A Green River (Eocene) polychrotid (Squamata: Reptilia) and a re-examination of iguanian systematics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Jack L. Conrad ,
Olivier Rieppel  and
Lance Grande
Jack L. Conrad
Affiliation:
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, New York 10024 USA,
Olivier Rieppel
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA, ,
Lance Grande
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA, ,
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Abstract

A pleurodontan iguanian from the Green River Formation (Eocene) is described in detail and named. The new taxon is known only from a single specimen preserving all areas of the body. Although many of the bone surfaces are eroded, almost all of the skeleton is present and some cartilaginous elements are preserved. The new taxon shares important characteristics with the extant anisolepines and leiosaurines, including the morphology and placement of the caudal autotomy planes, the postxiphisternal inscriptional ribs, and notched or fenestrated clavicles that are expanded proximally. This is the earliest complete iguanian known from the Americas and the earliest known iguanian that may be confidently referred to an extant “family.” A phylogenetic analysis including this taxon and other fossil and extant iguanians offers some support for the monophyly of Polychrotidae sensu lato, Tropiduridae sensu lato, and non-acrodont iguanians (Pleurodonta).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 81 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 1365 - 1373
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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