Phylogenetic value of jaw elements of lacertid lizards (Squamata: Lacertoidea): a case study with Oligocene material from France
Wencker, Lukardis (Università degli Studi di Torino)
Tschopp, Emanuel (Università degli Studi di Torino)
Villa, Andrea (Università degli Studi di Torino)
Augé, Marc Louis (Muséum National d'Histoire naturelle)
Delfino, Massimo (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Several extinct species are known from the family Lacertidae, but due to poor preservation, many of them are based on single bones. Here, we compare phylogenetic signals of disarticulated premaxillae, maxillae and dentaries of lacertids from four French Oligocene localities (Coderet, La Colombière, Roqueprune 2, Mas de Got B). We identified five morphotypes among the premaxillae, six among the maxillae, and ten among the dentaries. These morphotypes were scored as individual taxa per locality into three separate character matrices with the same 246 characters, one matrix for each jaw element. Subsequently, the phylogenetic position of the morphotypes was tested using maximum parsimony. The consensus trees with the dentaries and the maxillae found a large polytomy including all taxa except the outgroup taxon Gekko gecko. The consensus tree with the premaxillae showed a considerably more resolved topology but found all morphotype taxa outside Lacertidae. In a second step, we compared the constitution of our three datasets and the morphotype taxa. Our results suggest that a combination of convergent characters and missing data led to the outgroup position of the premaxilla morphotype taxa. The poor resolution of the maxillae strict consensus is likely a consequence of their fragmentary preservation. For the dentaries, a high amount of missing data due to the high number of morphotype taxa most likely caused the poor tree resolution. Indeed, tests with fewer morphotypes found tree resolutions comparable to the premaxilla data. When linking the morphotypes, five possible lacertid "species" were found. Comparison with already known French Oligocene lacertid species points to a slightly higher species richness of Lacertidae at that time than known before. Reliable species classification based on phylogeny only seems possible when combining the jaw elements or in association with other cranial and postcranial material, putting some doubt on species identifications based on single bones.
Grants:	European Commission 609402 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-116 Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad CGL2016-76431-P
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Cladistics, Vol. 27, Issue 6 (December 2021) , p. 765-802, ISSN 0748-3007

DOI: 10.1111/cla.12460

38 p, 1.9 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles