A species‐level total evidence phylogeny of the microteiid lizard family Alopoglossidae (Squamata: Gymnophthalmoidea)

Abstract

Alopoglossidae is a family of Neotropical lizards composed of 23 species allocated in two genera (Alopoglossus and Ptychoglossus). There is a lack of knowledge about the phylogenetic relationships and systematics of this family. Published phylogenies that include alopoglossid species have very low taxon coverage within the family, and are usually based on limited character sampling. Considering these shortcomings, we infer the phylogenetic relationships of Alopoglossidae-including all but one species in the family-based on the combined analyses of DNA sequences and morphological characters. We use four loci (the mitochondrial 12S, 16S and ND4; the nuclear C-mos) and a matrix of 143 phenotypic characters from scutellation, tongue morphology, hemipenis morphology, and osteology. The dataset is analyzed with Maximum Parsimony, with four alternative weighting schemes: three under Extended Implied Weighting, and one with equal weighting. The respective resulting topologies are compared in a sensitivity analysis framework. Our analyses support the paraphyly of Ptychoglossus, with Alopoglossus nested within it. We provide an updated classification for the family, where Ptychoglossus Boulenger, 1890 is considered a junior synonym of Alopoglossus Boulenger, 1885.

Lizards as Model Organisms of Sex Chromosome Evolution: What We Really Know from a Systematic Distribution of Available Data?

“…[21]. Dashed lines represent phylogenetic relationships by * Reference [18], ** Reference [19] and *** Reference [20].…”

“… Distribution of TSD and male (M-GSD) and female (F-GSD) genetic sex determination on lizard phylogenetic relationships redrawn from Reference [ 21 ]. Dashed lines represent phylogenetic relationships by * Reference [ 18 ], ** Reference [ 19 ] and *** Reference [ 20 ]. …”

“…In this review, we provide a synthesis on the main characteristics of the lizard genome and karyotype and discuss the main hypotheses and evidence on the evolution and diversification of their different sex determination and sex chromosome systems. Furthermore, we present a systematic qualitative and quantitative assessment of the available data on sex chromosome systems of non-snake squamates, updating the current knowledge of their phylogenetic distribution, using the evolutionary relationships reported by different studies [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

A New Species of Alopoglossus Boulenger (1885) (Squamata, Alopoglossidae) from the Lowlands of the Eastern Guiana Shield, with Assessment of the Taxonomic Status of A. copii surinamensis

“…The genus differs from Ptychoglossus Boulenger (1890) (the other genus belonging to the Alopoglossidae family; Goicoechea et al, 2016) in having keeled scales on the forelimbs (vs. smooth forelimb scales) and rhomboid, laterally imbricating dorsal scales (vs. parallel-sided dorsal scales) (Harris, 1994). A few phylogenetic studies, based on genetic data, morphological data, or both, have targeted species of Alopoglossidae (Pellegrino et al, 2001;Castoe et al, 2004;Goicoechea et al, 2016;Morales et al, 2020;Ribeiro-J ´unior et al, 2020). Nonetheless, the current taxonomic status of both species and genera in the family is still controversial.…”

“…Nonetheless, the current taxonomic status of both species and genera in the family is still controversial. For example, Morales et al (2020) recently suggested the need to synonymize Ptychoglossus with Alopoglossus. Moreover, a revision of A. angulatus resulted in the delimitation of no less than eight candidate species (Ribeiro-J ´unior et al, 2020).…”