Variability of pterygoid teeth in three species of Podarcis lizards and  the utility of palatal dentition in lizard systematics

Skawiński, Tomasz; Borczyk, Bartosz; Turniak, Edyta

doi:10.26496/bjz.2017.10

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…No pattern of ontogenetic change in pterygoid tooth count was recovered in these analyses, however, the number of pterygoid teeth could potentially be indicators of relative maturity in mosasaurs, given that their presence and number vary ontogenetically in extant lizards ( Barahona & Barbadillo, 1998 ; Skawiński, Borczyk & Turniak, 2017 ). Mosasaur pterygoid teeth have largely been ignored in the literature with respect to both ontogeny and phylogeny, and so future studies that include them are necessary to better understand their relevance to mosasaur development and evolution, and whether intraspecific differences in the number of pterygoid teeth represent growth, sexual, or individual variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Craniofacial ontogeny in Tylosaurinae

Zietlow

2020

PeerJ

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Mosasaurs were large, globally distributed aquatic lizards that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Despite numerous specimens of varying maturity, a detailed growth series has not been proposed for any mosasaur taxon. Two taxa—Tylosaurus proriger and T. kansasensis/nepaeolicus—have robust fossil records with specimens spanning a wide range of sizes and are thus ideal for studying mosasaur ontogeny. Tylosaurus is a genus of particularly large mosasaurs with long, edentulous anterior extensions of the premaxilla and dentary that lived in Europe and North America during the Late Cretaceous. An analysis of growth in Tylosaurus provides an opportunity to test hypotheses of the synonymy of T. kansasensis with T. nepaeolicus, sexual dimorphism, anagenesis, and heterochrony. Fifty-nine hypothetical growth characters were identified, including size-dependent, size-independent, and phylogenetic characters, and quantitative cladistic analysis was used to recover growth series for the two taxa. The results supported the synonymy of T. kansasensis with T. nepaeolicus and that T. kansasensis represent juveniles of T. nepaeolicus. A Spearman rank-order correlation test resulted in a significant correlation between two measures of size (total skull length and quadrate height) and maturity. Eleven growth changes were shared across both species, neither of the ontogram topologies showed evidence of skeletal sexual dimorphism, and a previous hypothesis of paedomorphy in T. proriger was not rejected. Finally, a novel hypothesis of anagenesis in Western Interior Seaway Tylosaurus species, driven by peramorphy, is proposed here.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Craniofacial ontogeny in Tylosaurinae

Zietlow

2020

PeerJ

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“…coerulea ( Stebbins, 1958 ). High variability in the presence and number of pterygoid teeth was previously documented in Podarcis ( Skawiński, Borczyk & Turniak, 2017 ), and ontogenetic variation in the number of rows of pterygoid teeth was reported in Iguana iguana ( Bochaton et al, 2016b ). An increased sample size of Elgaria and Gerrhonotus could capture a greater range of variation in this feature for these genera.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Variation in the skulls of Elgaria and Gerrhonotus (Anguidae, Gerrhonotinae) and implications for phylogenetics and fossil identification

Ledesma

Scarpetta

Bell

2021

PeerJ

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Background There are limited data on intra- and interspecific osteological variation for many squamate clades. Those data are relevant for phylogenetic analyses that use osteological characters and for apomorphic identifications of fossils. We investigate whether morphological features in the skulls of extant gerrhonotine lizards can be used to distinguish taxa at the species- and genus-level and assess whether newly discovered intra- and interspecific osteological variation alters the utility of previously reported apomorphic features. We examined skulls of species belonging to the gerrhonotine genera Elgaria and Gerrhonotus. These genera contain 17 extant species, but the cranial osteology of only a few species was previously examined. As a result, intra- and interspecific osteological variation of these gerrhonotines is poorly understood. Methods We employed high-resolution x-ray computed tomography (CT) to scan 25 alcohol-preserved specimens. We provide data on the skulls of all eight species of Elgaria, four for the first time, and five species of Gerrhonotus, three for the first time. We examined 3-D reconstructed skulls of the scanned specimens as well as dry, traditionally prepared skeletons (when they were available). Results We found that the purported diagnostic utility of many previously described morphological features is impacted because of substantial morphological variation between and within species. We present an assessment of osteological differences that may be useful to differentiate species of Elgaria and Gerrhonotus, many of which are present on isolated cranial elements commonly recovered as fossils, including the premaxilla, maxilla, parietal, pterygoid, prootic, dentary, and surangular. We demonstrate the importance of documenting patterns of osteological variation using large sample sizes, and the utility of examining disarticulated cranial elements of the squamate skull to identify diagnostic morphology. This study adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that extensive documentation of morphological variation is needed to further our understanding of the phylogenetic and diagnostic utility of morphological features across vertebrate clades. Efforts in that direction likely will benefit from examination of disarticulated skeletal elements.

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Green lizards (Squamata, Lacertidae) from ?Pliocene deposits of Węże I in southern Poland, with comments on cranial features for selected lacertids

Čerňanský

2024

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

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I here describe lacertids from the classic Węże I locality in southern Poland (?Pliocene deposits) based on six previously undescribed jaws: an incomplete left maxilla, two dentaries and three mandibles. These jaws collectively provide considerable data on the morphology of the maxilla, dentary, teeth, coronoid, splenial, angular, surangular and prearticular. All six jaws can be unequivocally allocated to Lacertidae and five of those are allocated to European green lizards of the Lacerta viridis group. Currently, La. viridis has regionally extinct or probably extinct status in Poland. The material from Węże I provides evidence that European green lizards had a large geographic distribution in Europe, including Poland during the ?Pliocene. One mandible fragment appears to be slightly different and is allocated to Lacertidae indet. That mandible might point to a higher taxonomic diversity of lacertids in this locality. However, that interpretation needs to be viewed with caution, because based on such limited material, individual and/or ontogenetic variation cannot be ruled out. To reveal the real taxonomic palaeodiversity of lacertids in Węże I, new and more complete cranial material is needed. In addition, this article provides insights into the comparative osteology of skulls and selected cranial elements in lacertids.

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Variability of pterygoid teeth in three species of Podarcis lizards and the utility of palatal dentition in lizard systematics

Cited by 3 publications

References 10 publications

Craniofacial ontogeny in Tylosaurinae

Craniofacial ontogeny in Tylosaurinae

Variation in the skulls of Elgaria and Gerrhonotus (Anguidae, Gerrhonotinae) and implications for phylogenetics and fossil identification

Green lizards (Squamata, Lacertidae) from ?Pliocene deposits of Węże I in southern Poland, with comments on cranial features for selected lacertids

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