The skull of the semi-aquatic neotropical lizard Echinosaura horrida (Gymnophthalmidae: Cercosaurinae) reveals new synapomorphies within Gymnophthalmoidea.
Cristian H MoralesAlison NgoLeila AbdelhadiWalter E SchargelJuan Diego DazaMario Humberto Yanez-MuñozEric L SmithPublished in: Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) (2024)
The rough teiid or water cork lizard (Echinosaura horrida) is a small reptile from Colombia and Ecuador placed in a genus that contains eight species and well-known phylogenetic relationships. Here we provide a detailed description and illustrations, bone by bone, of its skull, while we discussed its intraspecific variation by comparing high-resolution computed tomography data from two specimens and the variation within the genus by including previously published data from Echinosaura fischerorum. This allowed to propose putative diagnostic character states for Echinosaura horrida and synapomorphies for Echinosaura. In addition, our discussion includes broader comparisons of new character transformations of the jugal, vomer, orbitosphenoid, and hyoid. These characters are important for diagnosing clades at different levels of the Gymnophthalmoidea phylogeny.
Keyphrases
- computed tomography
- high resolution
- bone mineral density
- electronic health record
- big data
- soft tissue
- bone loss
- positron emission tomography
- magnetic resonance imaging
- risk assessment
- bone regeneration
- randomized controlled trial
- data analysis
- machine learning
- postmenopausal women
- genetic diversity
- contrast enhanced
- deep learning
- tandem mass spectrometry
- meta analyses
- high speed
- image quality
- ultrasound guided
- liquid chromatography