Nature Communications (Nov 2022)

Evolutionary origins of the prolonged extant squamate radiation

  • Chase D. Brownstein,
  • Dalton L. Meyer,
  • Matteo Fabbri,
  • Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar,
  • Jacques A. Gauthier

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34217-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Here, the authors present two well preserved fossil lizard skulls from the Late Jurassic of North America. These fossils, placed at the base of the clade Pan-Scincoidea, suggest that squamates had a wide geographic distribution and preserve characteristics that show the complex early evolutionary history of squamate anatomy.