The musculature of the forelimb of Polychrus acutirostris is described. The anatomy of the flexor and extensor muscles was analyzed, with a record of the sites of origin and insertion and main characteristics for each muscle. The main purposes of this work are: to contribute to the identification of the muscular complexes of the forearm and manus; to update the nomenclature of certain complicated muscles; and to present a model of the forelimb musculature of an arboreal lizard, to allow comparisons with the muscular anatomy of lizards with other locomotor habits.

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Abdala, V. and Moro, S. 2005. Comparative myology of the forelimb of Liolaemus sand lizards (Liolaemidae). -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 87 : 1-12The lizard genus Liolaemus includes numerous constituent clusters of putatively related taxa, one of which is the Liolaemus boulengeri group, which in turn includes the sand lizards (of the Liolaemus wiegmannii subgroup). Members of the sand lizard group exhibit three different modes of burying into sand. The general morphology of the forelimb muscles of those Liolaemus species is analysed.Herein, we present a study of the forelimb musculature of all species considered by Halloy et al . (1998). This study has three principal goals. First, we are seeking myological characters that will be useful in formulating phylogenetic hypothesis about the species of Liolaemus . With these characters, we also wish to compile morphological data that represent the morphological space implied in the diverse locomotor behaviours of these animals. Second, we are looking for derived features that reflect functional changes in the use of forelimb. Third, we wish to provide a cladistic analysis that can be used to test phylogenetic hypothesis derived from other sources of data. We present 48 characters in a data set and analyse it cladistically. We obtained a hypothesis of relationships of the Liolaemus species and compared this with previous hypotheses based on other characters. The trees obtained are not congruent with previously proposed phylogenies. We were unable to identify in our trees nodes that are based on structures reflecting functional changes in the use of the forelimb. The morphological similarities in the forelimb musculature of all species analysed seems to conform a very conservative general anatomical pattern with which Liolaemus sand lizards perform most of their locomotor behaviours.

The cranial musculature of 19 species of Liolaemus and two species of Phymaturus was compared and analyzed for taxonomic significance. Using 52 myological cranial characters a cladistic analysis of the taxa mentioned was performed. Parsimony analysis was conducted with the program Nona, and 180 equally parsimonious trees were obtained. In all of them the Tropidurinae are paraphyletic. The Liolaeminae are a monophyletic group. Phymaturus and Liolaemus are monophyletic groups, and the relationships among the species of Liolaemus remain unresolved.