Autarchoglossa

Autarchoglossa
	American five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Informal group:	Scleroglossa
Clade:	Autarchoglossa; Wagler, 1830

Autarchoglossa is a clade (evolutionary grouping) of squamates that includes skinks, anguimorphs, snakes, and relatives.[1] Autarchoglossa is supported as a monophyletic grouping (i.e. a valid clade) by morphological features in living and extinct lizards and snakes. Some phylogenetic analyses based on molecular features such as DNA sequences in living squamates do not support Autarchoglossa.

The recent proposal of the Toxicofera clade places Iguania within Autarchoglossa, which is not supported by morphological analyses. Placing Iguania within Autarchoglossa may lead to confusion as Autarchoglossa means "free-tongued", and iguanians do not have this feature. To circumvent this, it has been proposed that Autarchoglossa be renamed to Unidentata (single egg-tooth, a feature both groups share) and be redefined to include Iguania.[2]

The following are families classified within Autarchoglossa (excluding Iguania):[3]

Anguidae Gray, 1825 – alligator lizards, anguids, galliwasps, glass lizards
Anniellidae Nopcsa 1928 – legless lizards
Cordylidae Mertens, 1937 – girdle-tailed lizards
Gerrhosauridae Fitzinger, 1843 - plated lizards
Gymnophthalmidae Merrem, 1820 - spectacled lizards
Helodermatidae Gray, 1837 – beaded lizards
Lacertidae Gray, 1825 – wall lizards, Old World racerunners
Lanthanotidae Steindachner, 1877 – earless monitors
Scincidae Gray, 1825 – skinks
Teiidae Gray, 1827 – tegus, junglerunners, ground lizards, New World racerunners, whiptails
Varanidae Hardwicke & Gray, 1827 – monitors
Xantusiidae Baird, 1858 – night lizards
Xenosauridae Cope, 1866 - knob-scaled lizards

References

Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2008. Suborder Autarchoglossa Archived May 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed March 28, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org.
Vidal, N. and Hedges, S.B. 2005. The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes. C.R. Biologies 328:1000-1008. available online: https://mnhn.academia.edu/NicolasVidal/Papers/450567/The_phylogeny_of_squamate_reptiles_lizards_snakes_and_amphisbaenians_inferred_from_nine_nuclear_protein-coding_genes
"Autarchoglossa". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 March 2011.

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[1] Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2008. Suborder Autarchoglossa Archived May 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed March 28, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org.

[2] Vidal, N. and Hedges, S.B. 2005. The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes. C.R. Biologies 328:1000-1008. available online: https://mnhn.academia.edu/NicolasVidal/Papers/450567/The_phylogeny_of_squamate_reptiles_lizards_snakes_and_amphisbaenians_inferred_from_nine_nuclear_protein-coding_genes

[ITIS-3] "Autarchoglossa". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 March 2011.