'SERPENTINE LACERTIDS'

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Just a quick note re: the 'non  -serpentine lacertid' thread.. lacertids are a 
specific Old World group of scincomorph lizards (they are lacertoid 
scincomorph scincogekkonomorph sclerroglossans actually) related to 
skinks, cordylids and teiids: 'lacertid' should not be used to mean 
'lizard'. The group regarded as 'the lizard group' by most people is the 
Lacertilia (an alternative name, Sauria, is now used as a far more 
inclusive clade of diapsids). Whether Lacertilia includes Serpentes (and 
Amphisbaenia) depends on your take on squamatan phylogeny.  

On a related topic, something I've been meaning to ask for a while: 
when people refer to Gauthier as 'the famous French explorer', are they 
referring to his figurative exploration of the animal kingdom, or does 
he really go climbing up mountains and stuff? Norell and de Queiroz 
even named the Miocene iguanian _Armandisaurus explorator_ in 
honour of this trait (Armand is Gauthier's middle name). In a similar 
vein, _Simosuchus clarki_ got me thinking: why has no one ever 
named a taxon after Mike Benton? Or have they?

DARREN NAISH 
PALAEOBIOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP
School of Earth, Environmental & Physical Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Burnaby Building
Burnaby Road                           email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
Portsmouth UK                          tel: 01703 446718
P01 3QL