‘Modern’ lizard from the Upper Triassic of China

Abstract

LIZARDS are the most numerous, varied and widespread of living reptiles. An essentially modern lizard fauna has existed throughout the Tertiary and members of many modern lizard families are known from the late Cretaceous. Earlier in the Mesozoic, very few fossils of lizards are known. Lizards from the Upper Jurassic may be related to the ancestors of modern groups, but are placed in distinct families. Lizards previously described from the Upper Triassic of Europe¹ and North America² are considerably more primitive, retaining many cranial features in common with their ancestors from the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic³. We give here the first description of an Upper Triassic lizard with an essentially modern cranial morphology. This specimen is interesting with respect to the origin, differentiation and zoogeography of the modern lizard groups.