Phylogenetic Placement of the Pygmy Alligator Lizard Based on Mitochondrial DNA

• Published in: Journal of herpetology Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 142 - 147
• Main Authors: Conroy, Chris J, Bryson, Robert W, Lazcano, David, Knight, Alec
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles 01-03-2005
• Subjects: Biological taxonomies; CONTENTS; Evolution; Lizards; Modeling; Monophyly; Parsimony; Phylogenetics; Systematics; Taxa; Topology; Transfer RNA
• ISSN: 0022-1511; 1937-2418
• DOI: 10.1670/0022-1511(2005)039[0142:PPOTPA]2.0.CO;2

Morphological studies have proven inconsistent in establishing the phylogenetic placement and taxonomic assignment of Elgaria parva. Originally classified as Gerrhonotus parvus Knight and Scudday, this taxon was reassigned to Elgaria based on morphology. To investigate its phylogenetic affinities, we generated mitochondrial DNA sequence data and conducted phylogenetic analyses together with published sequences for a broad taxonomic sampling of anguid lizards. We conducted parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian analyses of the data. Our results indicate that E. parva forms a clade with other Gerrhonotus rather than Elgaria. Furthermore, Elgaria and Gerrhonotus are not sister taxa. Based on our new molecular evidence, we suggest that E. parva be classified as Gerrhonotus parvus as originally described.