Suborder Cryptodira
Superfamily Testudinoidea
- Family Emydidae (Pond Turtles/Box and Water Turtles) W
- Family Testudinidae (Tortoises) W
- Family Geoemydidae (Bataguridae) (Asian River Turtles, Leaf and Roofed Turtles, Asian Box Turtles) W
- Family Platysternidae (Big-headed Turtles) W
Superfamily Trionychoidea (= Trionychia)
- Family Carettochelyidae (Pignose Turtles) W
- Family Trionychidae (Softshell Turtles) W
Superfamily Chelydroidea
- Family Chelydridae (Snapping Turtles) W
- Family Dermatemydidae (River Turtles) W
- Family Kinosternidae (Mud and Musk Turtles) W
Superfamily Chelonioidea
- Family Cheloniidae (Sea Turtles) W
- Family Dermochelyidae (Leatherback Turtles) W
Suborder Pleurodira (phylogeny)
Superfamily (none yet)
Superfamily Pelomedusoidea
- Family Pelomedusidae (Afro-American Sideneck Turtles) W
- Family Podocnemididae (Madagascan Big-headed and American Sideneck River Turtles) W
Lepidosauria
Order Rhynchocephalia
Suborder Sphenodontida
- Family Sphenodontidae (Tuataras) W
Order Squamata (phylogeny of squamata) [2]
Sauria (Lacertilia) - Lizards
Superfamily Iguania [3]
- Family Agamidae (Agamas), incl. Leiolepididae W
- Subfamily Agaminae
- Subfamily Amphibolurinae
- Subfamily Draconinae
- Subfamily Hydrosaurinae
- Subfamily Leiolepidinae
- Subfamily Uromastycinae
- Family Chamaeleonidae (Chameleons) W
Family Iguanidae s.l. ("Iguanas") [Pleurodonta] with the following families previously treated as subfamilies:
- Family Corytophanidae (Casquehead Lizards) W
- Family Crotaphytidae (Collared and Leopard Lizards) W
- Family Anolidae (Anoles s. str.)
- Family Hoplocercidae (Wood lizards, Clubtails) W
- Family Iguanidae s. str. (Iguanas and Spinytail Iguanas) W
- Family Leiocephalidae
- Family Leiosauridae
- Family Liolaemidae
- Family Opluridae (Madagascar iguanids) W
- Family Phrynosomatidae (Earless, Spiny, Tree, Side-blotched and Horned Lizards) W
- Family Polychrotidae (Anoles) W
- Family Tropiduridae (Neotropical Ground Lizards) W
Superfamily Gekkota
- Family Gekkonidae (Geckoes) W
- Family Carphodactylidae
- Family Diplodactylidae W
- Family Eublepharidae W
- Family Phyllodactylidae
- Family Sphaerodactylidae
- Family Pygopodidae (Legless Lizards) W
Superfamily Scincomorpha (phylogeny after Hedges 2014) [Note 4]
- Family Cordylidae (Spinytail Lizards) W
- Family Gerrhosauridae (Plated Lizards) W
- Family Scincidae (Skinks) W
- Subfamily Acontiinae (Limbless skinks)
- Subfamily Egerniinae (Social skinks)
- Subfamily Eugongylinae (Eugongylid skinks)
- Subfamily Lygosominae (Lygosomid skinks)
- Subfamily Mabuyinae (Mabuyid skinks)
- Subfamily Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphid skinks)
- Subfamily Scincinae (Typical skinks)
- (Sub-) family Ateuchosauridae (East Asian skinks) (not universally recognized)
- (Sub-) family Ristellinae (Indo-Sri Lanka skinks) (not universally recognized)
- Family Xantusiidae (Night Lizards) W
- Subfamily Xantusiinae
- Subfamily Lepidophyminae
- Subfamily Cricosaurinae
Superfamily Lacertoidea (after Zheng & Wiens 2016) (new!)
- Family Alopoglossidae
- Family Gymnophthalmidae (Spectacled Lizards) W
- Family Lacertidae (Lacertids, Wall Lizards) W
- Family Teiidae (Whiptails and Tegus) W
Superfamily Diploglossa (note 4); (Anguimorpha: Diploglossa + Platynota + Shinisauroidea)
- Family Anguidae (Glass Lizards and Alligator Lizards; Lateral Fold Lizards) W
- Subfamily Anguinae (Glass Lizards)
- Subfamily Anniellinae (American Legless lizards) W
- Subfamily Gerrhonotinae (Alligator Lizards)
- Family Diploglossidae (Galliwasps and South American Glass Lizards)
- Family Xenosauridae (Knob-scaled Lizards) W
includes Amphisbaenia (note 2)
- Family Amphisbaenidae (Worm Lizards) W
- Family Bipedidae (Two-legged Worm Lizards) W
- Family Blanidae
- Family Cadeidae
- Family Rhineuridae W
- Family Trogonophidae (Shorthead Worm Lizards)
Superfamily Platynota (Varanoidea) (note 1)
- Family Helodermatidae (Gila Monsters) W
- Family Lanthanotidae (Earless Monitor lizards) W
- Family Varanidae (Monitor Lizards) W
Superfamily Shinisauroidea
- Family Shinisauridae (Crocodile Lizards) W
Superfamily Dibamia
- Family Dibamidae (Blind Lizards
Ophidia (Serpentes) - Snakes (phylogeny) [Note 5]
Superfamily Acrochordoidea
- Family Acrochordidae (File Snakes) W
Superfamily Uropeltoidea s.l. (Pipe snakes and Shield-tailed snakes)
- Family Anomochilidae (Dwarf Pipe Snakes) W
- Family Cylindrophiidae (Asian Pipe Snakes) W
- Family Uropeltidae (Shield-tail Snakes) W
Superfamily Pythonoidea s.l. (Pythons and relatives)
- Family Loxocemidae (Mexican Burrowing Pythons) W
- Family Pythonidae (Pythons) W
- Family Xenopeltidae (Sunbeam Snakes) W
Superfamily Booidea (preliminarily after Vidal & Hedges 2009)
- Family Boidae (Boas) W
- Subfamily Boinae (Boas)
- Subfamily Ungaliophiinae (Dwarf Boas)
- Subfamily Erycinae
- Subfamily Calabariinae (or Calabariidae)
- Subfamily Candoiinae (or Candoiidae)
- Subfamily Sanziniinae (or Sanziniidae)
- Subfamily Charininae (or Charinidae)
Superfamily Colubroidea (revised after Zaher et al. 2019)
- Family Colubridae (Colubrids) W
- Subfamily Ahaetuliinae W
- Subfamily Calamariinae W
- Subfamily Colubrinae W
- Subfamily Dipsadinae (also as Dipsadidae,e.g. in Zaher et al. 2019; see squamate phylogeny) W
- Subfamily Grayiinae
- Subfamily Natricinae W (also as Natricidae, e.g. in Zaher et al. 2019)
- Subfamily Pseudoxenodontinae (Pseudoxenodontidae in Zaher et al. 2019)
- Subfamily Sibynophiinae (= Scaphiodontophiinae, see comment in Sibynophis geminatus) W
Superfamily Elapoidea (revised after Zaher et al. 2019)
- Family Atractaspididae W (Mole Vipers) [6]
- Subfamily Aparallactinae
- Subfamily Atractaspidinae W (Mole Vipers) [6]
- Family Cyclocoridae
- Family Lamprophiidae (in Wikipedia currently subsumed under Colubridae)
- Family Prosymnidae
- Family Psammophiidae
- Family Pseudaspididae
- Family Pseudoxyrhophiidae
- Family Elapidae W (for the superfamily Elapoidea and the subfamilies see note [6])
- Subfamily Elapinae (Cobras, Coral Snakes, etc.)
- Subfamily Hydrophiinae (Sea Snakes)
Superfamily Typhlopoidea (Scolecophidia)
- Family Anomalepididae (Dawn Blind Snakes) W
- Family Gerrhopilidae (Blind Snakes)
- Family Typhlopidae (Blind Snakes) W
- Family Leptotyphlopidae/Glauconiidae (Slender Blind Snakes) W
- Subfamily Leptotyphlopinae
- Subfamily Epictinae
- Family Xenotyphlopidae
Currently not assigned to any Superfamily:
- Family Aniliidae/Ilysiidae (Pipe Snakes) W
- Family Bolyeriidae (Round Island Boas) W
- Family Homalopsidae W
- Family Pareidae W (was Pareatidae, see P. carinatus for details)
- Family Tropidophiidae (Dwarf Boas) W
- Family Viperidae (Vipers and Pit Vipers) W [6]
- Subfamily Azemiopinae
- Subfamily Crotalinae
- Subfamily Viperinae
- Family Xenodermidae (was: Xenodermatidae, see X. javanicus for details)
- Family Xenophidiidae
Archosauria
Order Crocodylia - Crocodiles etc. [7]
Suborder Eusuchia
- Family Crocodylidae (Crocodylians) W
- Family Gavialidae or Subfamily Gavialinae (Gharials)
- Family Alligatoridae (Alligators)
- Subfamily Alligatorinae
- Subfamily Caimaninae (Caimans) -- see note [7]
Overall taxonomy originally after
- Zug,G.R.; Vitt, L.J. & Caldwell, J.P. (2001)
Herpetology, 2nd ed.
Academic Press San Diego, London, [...]XIV + 630 pp.Vitt, Laurie J.; Janalee P. Caldwell 2013
Herpetology, Fourth Edition: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians.
Academic Press, 776 pp. [ISBN 978-0123869197] [2014]Albert, Eva M.; Diego San Mauro, Mario García-París, Lukas Rüber and Rafael Zardoya 2009
Effect of taxon sampling on recovering the phylogeny of squamate reptiles based on complete mitochondrial genome and nuclear gene sequence data.
Gene 441(1-2):12-21[1] Turtles (especially their phylogeny) after
- Thomson, R. C., Spinks, P. Q., & Shaffer, H. B. 2021
A global phylogeny of turtles reveals a burst of climate-associated diversification on continental margins.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(7)
[2] Snakes are nested within lizards, so they technically paraphyletic. Squamata after multiple sources including
Douglas et al. (2006) found that snakes formed a sister clade to amphisbaenians which is rejected by Vidal et al. (2005).
Douglas, D.A.; Janke, A. & Arnason, U. (2006)
A mitogenomic study on the phylogenetic position of snakes.
Zoologica Scripta, 35: 545–558Gamble, T.; A. M. Bauer, e. Greenbaum & T. R. Jackman (2008)
Out of the blue: a novel, trans-Atlantic clade of geckos (Gekkota, Squamata). Zoologica Scripta 37 (4): 355–366Goicoechea, N., Frost, D. R., De la Riva, I., Pellegrino, K. C. M., Sites, J., Rodrigues, M. T. and Padial, J. M. (2016)
Molecular systematics of teioid lizards (Teioidea/Gymnophthalmoidea: Squamata) based on the analysis of 48 loci under tree-alignment and similarity-alignment.
Cladistics, doi: 10.1111/cla.12150Harris, D. J., Marshall, J.C. & Crandall, K.A. (2001)
Squamate relationships based on C-mos nuclear DNA sequences: increased taxon sampling improves bootstrap support.
Amphibia-Reptilia 22 (2): 235-242Kumazawa, Y. (2007)
Mitochondrial genomes from major lizard families suggest their phylogenetic relationships and ancient radiations.
Gene 388: 19-26Pyron, R.A.; Frank T Burbrink, John J Wiens 2013
A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes.
BMC Evol Biol 13: 93Townsend, T. M., A. Larson, E. Louis, J. R. Macey. 2004. Molecular phylogentics of Squamata: The position of snakes, amphisbaenians, and dibamids, and the root of the squamate tree. Systematic Biology, 53(5):1-23.
Vidal, Nicolas and S. Blair Hedges (2005)
The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes.
Comptes Rendus Biologies 328 (10-11): 1000-1008Hedges, S.B. 2014
The high-level classification of skinks (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincomorpha).
Zootaxa 3765 (4): 317–338Zheng, Yuchi; John J. Wiens 2016
Combining phylogenomic and supermatrix approaches, and a time-calibrated phylogeny for squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) based on 52 genes and 4162 species.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 94: 537–547, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.009Zheng & Wiens 2016 include Amphisbaenians in Lacertoidea, see their phylogeny.
[3] Iguania after
- Frost, D.R.; Etheridge, R.; Janies, D. & Titus, T.A. (2001)
Total evidence, sequence alignment, evolution of Polychrotid lizards, and a reclassification of the Iguania (Squamata: Iguania).
American Museum Novitates 3343: 38 pp.- [4]: Scincomorpha partly after Hedges 2014:
Hedges, S.B. 2014
The high-level classification of skinks (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincomorpha).
Zootaxa 3765 (4): 317–338but see also Squamate phylogeny (Zheng & Wiens 2016) and Shea 2021 who moved many (sub-) families to tribus level:
Shea, G. M. (2021) Nomenclature of supra-generic units within the Family Scincidae (Squamata). Zootaxa 5067 (3): 301–351
Vidal, N. & Hedges, S.B. (2009) The molecular evolutionary tree of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 332: 129–139; doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2008.07.010
Anguidae subdivided into Anguinae and Gerrhonotinae following Pyron et al. 2013. Anguidae and Diploglossidae separated following Vitt & Caldwell 2013. Anniellinae (instead of Anniellidae) fide Zheng & Wiens 2016.
Sánchez-Martínez, Paola María; Martha Patricia Ramírez-Pinilla and Daniel Rafael Miranda-Esquivel (2007)
Comparative histology of the vaginal–cloacal region in Squamata and its phylogenetic implications.
Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 88: 289–307Anguimorpha after Zheng & Wiens 2016
Pyron, R.A., et al. (2010) The phylogeny of advanced snakes (Colubroidea), with discovery of a new subfamily and comparison of support methods for likelihood trees. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.006
Lee, Michael S. Y.; Andrew F. Hugall, Robin Lawson & John D. Scanlon (2007)
Phylogeny of snakes (Serpentes): combining morphological and molecular data in likelihood, Bayesian and parsimony analyses.
Systematics and Biodiversity 5 (4): 371–389Vidal, N., Delmas, A.S., David, P., Cruaud, C., Couloux, A., Hedges, S.B. (2007). The phylogeny and classification of caenophidian snakes inferred from seven nuclear protein-coding genes. Comptes Rendus Biologies 330: 182-187
Vidal et al. (2007) The higher-level relationships of alethinophidian snakes inferred from seven nuclear and mitochondrial genes. In: Henderson, R.W., Powell, R., (eds). Biology of the Boas and Pythons, Eagle Mountain Publ., Eagle Montain, Utah. Pp. 27-33.
Vidal et al. (2005, 2007) and other authors suggested various conflicting trees of different topology. While some trees revealed some interesting relationships, such as the Anguidae forming a clade with the Helodermatidae and Varanidae (forming the Anguimorpha), they often lacked certain families (such as the Anniellidae, Xenosauridae etc.).
Zaher H, Murphy RW, Arredondo JC, Graboski R, Machado-Filho PR, Mahlow K, et al. 2019
Large-scale molecular phylogeny, morphology, divergence-time estimation, and the fossil record of advanced caenophidian snakes (Squamata: Serpentes).
PLoS ONE 14(5): e0216148[6] Kelly et al. (2009) split the superfamily Elapoidea into 5 families: Atractaspididae (including Atractaspidinae and Aparallactinae), Lamprophiidae, Prosymnidae, Psammophiidae, Pseudaspididae, Pseudoxyrhophiidae (including Pseudoxyrhophiinae and Amplorhininae). While we follow Pyron et al. (2010) here, you can find Kelly's largely equivalent groups (e.g. their Atractaspididae) in the database (as Atractaspidinae etc).
Kelly, Christopher M. R.; Nigel P. Barker, Martin H. Villet and Donald G. Broadley 2009
PHYLOGENY, BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE SNAKE SUPERFAMILY ELAPOIDEA: A RAPID RADIATION IN THE LATE EOCENE.
Cladistics 25: 38-63Hydrophiinae after
Strickland, J. L., Carter, S., Kraus, F. and Parkinson, C. L. 2016
Snake evolution in Melanesia: origin of the Hydrophiinae (Serpentes, Elapidae), and the evolutionary history of the enigmatic New Guinean elapid Toxicocalamus.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.doi: 10.1111/zoj.12423The classical separation into sea snakes and terrestrial elapids is not supported by molecular data. While the Hydrophiinae forms a clade, Laticauda is derived from terrestrial elapids. See Lee et al. for details.
Lee, Michael S. Y.; Kate L. Sanders, Benedict King, Alessandro Palci 2016
Diversification rates and phenotypic evolution in venomous snakes (Elapidae)
R. Soc. open sci., DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150277Viperidae after
Alencar, Laura R.V.; Tiago B. Quental, Felipe G. Grazziotin, Michael L. Alfaro, Marcio Martins, Mericien Venzon, Hussam Zaher 2016
Diversification in vipers: Phylogenetic relationships, time of divergence and shifts in speciation rates
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 105: 50–62Carrasco, P.A., C.I. Mattoni, G.C. Leynaud, and G.J. Scrocchi. 2012
Morphology, phylogeny and taxonomy of South American bothropoid pitvipers (Serpentes, Viperidae).
Zoologica Scripta 41:1–15[7] Crocodiles: Willis 2009 used an intron sequence to show a separate clade that includes Melanosuchus, Caiman, and Paleosuchus and may be called the Caimanidae:
Willis, Ray E. 2009
Transthyretin gene (TTR) intron 1 elucidates crocodylian phylogenetic relationships.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53 (3): 1049-1054Man et al. (2011) suggested to divide the crocodiles into 2 families, Alligatoridae (genera Alligator, Caiman, and Paleosuchus) and Crocodylidae (genera Crocodylus, Gavialis, Mecistops, Osteolaemus, and Tomistoma).
Man, Zhang; Wang Yishu, Yan Peng & Wu Xiaobing 2011
Crocodilian phylogeny inferred from twelve mitochondrial protein-coding genes, with new complete mitochondrial genomic sequences for Crocodylus acutus and Crocodylus novaeguineae.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60: 62–67, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.029.For further taxonomic references on higher taxa see family pages or follow links to phylogeny pages.
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This page is maintained by Peter Uetz Created: 10 Nov 1995 / Last changed or updated: 21 Sep 2023