Tegus and Skinks

[dragonmetalhead]

So a while back I saw a cladogram that seemed to indicate that tegus ans skinks were related. Many people ask if Kodo is a skink when I take him out in public and I must admit, in many ways he reminds me more of a skink than a monitor. Does anyone know how closely related tegus and skinks are, if that is indeed the case? I'm just curious.

 

[Logie_Bear]

Can you link the cladogram?

 

[dragonmetalhead]

I will see if I can find it. It's been a long time since I saw it.

---

Here it is.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=teiidae+cladogram&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&biw=1039&bih=1121&tbm=isch&tbnid=9U2R6r1zZxq_zM:&imgrefurl=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944200607000785&docid=HFnhKx5s8-0R8M&imgurl=http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0944200607000785-gr1.gif&w=370&h=635&ei=3nJJUPO0O4bciQL4mYDwDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&dur=437&sig=103638680929752294291&page=1&tbnh=163&tbnw=94&start=0&ndsp=43&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:91&tx=84&ty=131&vpx=4&vpy=91&hovh=294&hovw=171

 

[Logie_Bear]

It's been many years since I had any sort of bio class, so help refresh my memory here- shouldn't there there be a genus at the base of each split so you know what each species beyond that evolved from?

I assume that the first split (off the chart on the left) would just be lacerta. But then what goes on each node for the bottom of the other diverging branches?

 

[laurarfl]

According to the cladogram in my herpetology text, they are not really related. Iguania goes to the left and includes Igunanidae, Agamidae, and Chamaeleonidae. Everything else goes to the right under Scleroglossa. Scleroglossa splits into three branches. Tegus and skinks are in different branches, so any relation would end at that point. Tegus are in Lacertiformes, and skinks are in a much larger grouping, Diploglossa.

My cladogram is much more detailed, like this one (you have to scroll to find it)
Messy link, but it is the only one I could find
http://www.csub.edu/~dgermano/Courses/Reptile.pdf

 

[M4A2E4]

Skinks and tegus are more closely related to each other than they are to monitors anyway.

Honestly, a big tegu looks more like a skink to me than some of the actual skinks do. I would never have guessed that Blue Tongues and the red-eye croc skink were actual skinks unless someone told me.

 

[larissalurid]

This sounds pretty interesting. That's so funny because I've realized myself that they are similar. I've been drawn to both of their appearances and personalities so much that I have a Merauke BTS and an Extreme Tegu. I've thought that they had similar features, cool to see this brought up!

 

[DavidRosi]

I've got a Berber skink coming next week, exited

 

[nepoez]

bloodlines aside, I think the way that tegus move and look are more like monitors, they prowl around and look around kind of dinosaur-like, whereas skinks look a lot more like snakes and they kind of crawl with their bodies sliding/slithering on the ground with very short legs, almost like a snake with short legs, or a lizard that's almost evolved into snakes haha.

 

[Roadkill]

You have to keep in mind that (even more so than other science) cladograms are NOT written in stone, they are HIGHLY variable and heavily dependent on what characters one is using and how much significance one gives those characters. I'm sure I could find other cladograms that would show different relationships entirely. I remember a number of years ago someone questioned the validity of the turtle skull being assumed as ancestral, so by just changing the character weight of that they calculated new cladograms that completely changed where in the evolutionary lineage they would supposedly arise.

Either way, skinks and teids are not closely related. I think you have more relatedness to a squirrel monkey than skinks and teids do.

 

[nepoez]

deleted

 

[frost]

i have blue tongue skinks and tegus i could do a pic with them side by side.=]