Fossil lizards from the Jurassic Kota Formation of India

Evans, Susan E.; Prasad, G. V. R.; Manhas, B. K.

doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0299:flftjk]2.0.co;2

Cited by 85 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Until recently, representatives of modern lizard families were well represented in the Cenozoic fossil record but poorly known in Mesozoic strata. Our results support the hypothesis that modern lizard families had diversified at least by the Late Jurassic (Macey et al 1997b;Evans et al 2002) as indicated by numerous recently discovered Mesozoic fossils (see Evans et al 2002).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…50 Myr ago (Windley 1988). Our analyses, combined with evidence from extinct terrestrial vertebrate groups (Buffetaut 1987;Evans et al 2002), support the hypothesis that these geological events introduced Gondwanan members into Asia as proposed by Macey et al (2000). Dinosaur fossils of Gondwanan affinities have been found on the Indian subcontinent in Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sediments (Buffetaut Proc.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Molecular phylogenetic evidence for ancient divergence of lizard taxa on either side of Wallace's Line

Schulte

Melville

Larson

2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wallace's Line, separating the terrestrial faunas of South East Asia from the Australia-New Guinea region, is the most prominent and well-studied biogeographical division in the world. Phylogenetically distinct subgroups of major animal and plant groups have been documented on either side of Wallace's Line since it was first proposed in 1859. Despite its importance, the temporal history of fragmentation across this line is virtually unknown and the geological foundation has rarely been discussed. Using molecular phylogenetics and dating techniques, we show that the split between taxa in the South East Asian and the Australian-New Guinean geological regions occurred during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous in two independent lizard clades. This estimate is compatible with the hypothesis of rifting Gondwanan continental fragments during the Mesozoic and strongly rejects the hypothetical origin of various members of the Australian-New Guinean herpetofauna as relatively recent invasions from South East Asia. Our finding suggests an ancient fragmentation of lizard taxa on either side of Wallace's Line and provides further evidence that the composition of modern global communities has been significantly affected by rifting and accretion of Gondwanan continental plates during the Middle to Late Mesozoic.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Molecular phylogenetic evidence for ancient divergence of lizard taxa on either side of Wallace's Line

Schulte

Melville

Larson

2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These results should be robust to additional data: the tree is consistent with trees obtained from molecular analyses of lepidosauromorphs with more nuclear genes and/or denser taxon sampling [15,16]. Tikiguana is not related to rhynchocephalians; in particular, the narrow tapering dentary without a posterodorsal 'coronoid' extension, reduced and dorsal symphysial contact point, as well as tooth implantation (successively pleurodont/acrodont/ pleuroacrodont anteroposteriorly) are typical of acrodontan lizards and not seen in early rhynchocephalians [12].…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 70%

Tikiguania and the antiquity of squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes)

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tikiguania estesi is widely accepted to be the earliest member of Squamata, the reptile group that includes lizards and snakes. It is based on a lower jaw from the Late Triassic of India, described as a primitive lizard related to agamids and chamaeleons. However, Tikiguania is almost indistinguishable from living agamids; a combined phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular data places it with draconines, a prominent component of the modern Asian herpetofauna. It is unlikely that living agamids have retained the Tikiguania morphotype unchanged for over 216 Myr; it is much more conceivable that Tikiguania is a Quaternary or Late Tertiary agamid that was preserved in sediments derived from the Triassic beds that have a broad superficial exposure. This removes the only fossil evidence for lizards in the Triassic. Studies that have employed Tikiguana for evolutionary, biogeographical and molecular dating inferences need to be reassessed.

show abstract

“…Analysis of the RAG1 data set used fossil calibrations across the Iguania to estimate the divergence between D. nobbi and D. sp. nov. Fossil calibrations included four fossils used in previously published studies: a middle Jurasic acrodont iguanian fossil (154-180 mya, Evans et al, 2002), an early Miocene sceloporine (,22.8 mya , Robinson and Van Devender, 1973) and an Chamaeleo/Rhampholeon fossil (18 mya, Rieppel et al, 1992), and a Pliocene Phrynocephalus fossil (5 mya, Zerova and Chkhikvadze, 1984). Specific BEAST settings for these calibrations are as per table 1 in Melville et al (2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%