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A review of the taxonomy and systematics of aigialosaurs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

A.R. Dutchak
A.R. Dutchak*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. Email: dutchak@colorado.edu
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Abstract

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Aigialosaurs have been recognised as a group of semi-aquatic marine reptiles for over one hundred years. While the taxonomic status of aigialosaurs has changed little in the past century, the interfamilial relationships have been modified considerably making the phylogenetic relationships between aigialosaurs, mosasaurs, dolichosaurs, coniasaurs, varanids and other squamates a topic of much debate. The monophyly of the family Aigialosauridae has been contested by recent studies and remains highly questionable. The higher-level relationships of mosasauroids within Squamata remain problematic with studies placing mosasauroids outside of Varanidae, Varanoidea and even Anguimorpha. These findings conflict with earlier views that aigialosaurs (and by association mosasaurs) were closely related to Varanus. This study concludes that further descriptions of aigialosaur taxa are needed, and several key flaws need to be addressed in the data matrices that have been used in previous studies. This should facilitate the clarification of aigialosaur systematic relationships both within Mosasauroidea and Squamata.

Keywords

aigialosaursmosasaurssystematicstaxonomy
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 84 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the First Mosasaur Meeting , September 2005 , pp. 221 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2005

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