Neurocranial osteology and systematic relationships of Varanus (Megalania) prisca Owen, 1859 (Squamata: Varanidae)

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

Volumn 155, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 445-457

  Head, Jason J ^a   Barrett, Paul M ^b   Rayfield, Emily J ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

^b DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Gigantism; Komodoensis; Neurocranium; Pleistocene

Indexed keywords

HELODERMA; LANTHANOTUS; MEGALANIA; SQUAMATA; VARANIDAE; VARANOIDEA; VARANUS; VARANUS KOMODOENSIS;

EID: 59249090148     PISSN: 00244082     EISSN: 10963642     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00448.x     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Anderson C. 1930. Palaeontological notes II. Meiolania playceps Owen and Varanus (Megalania) priscus Owen. Records of the Australian Museum 17 : 309 316.
2. Ast J. 2001. Mitochondrial DNA evidence and evolution in Varanoidea (Squamata). Cladistics 17 : 211 226 erratum in 18:125 W. 1981. The behavioral ecology of the Komodo monitor. Gainesville : University of Florida Press.
3. Bahl KN. 1937. Skull of Varanus monitor. Records of the Indian Museum 39 : 133 174.
4. Barbas-Henry HA. 1988. The cranial nerves III-XII in the monitor lizard Varanus exanthematicus. A neuroanatomical tracing study. Amsterdam : Free University Press.
5. Baverstock PR, King D, King M, Birrell J, Krieg M. 1993. The evolution of species of the Varanidae: microcomplement fixation analysis of serum albumins. Australian Journal of Zoology 41 : 621 638.
6. Bever GS, Bell CJ, Maisano JA. 2005. The ossified braincase and cephalic ostedoderms of Shinisaurus crocodilurus (Squamata, Shinisauridae). Palaeontologia Electronica 8. 1. 14 : 1 36.
7. Camp CL. 1923. Classification of the lizards. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 48 : 289 480.
8. Conrad JL. 2004. Skull, mandible, and hyoid of Shinisaurus crocodilurus Ahl (Squamata, Anguimorpha). Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 141 : 399 434.
9. Conrad JL, Norell MA. 2006. High-resolution X-ray computed tomography of an Early Cretaceous gekkonomorph (Squamata) from Öösh (Övörkhangai; Mongolia). Historical Biology 18 : 405 431.
10. Estes R. 1983. Sauria terrestria, Amphisbaenia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie, Volume 10A. Stuttgart : Gustav Fischer Verlag.
11. Etheridge R Jr. 1917. Megalania prisca, Owen and Notiosaurus dentatus, Owen: lacertilian dermal armour; opalised remains from Lightning Ridge. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 29 : 127 133, pl GF. 1918. Contributions to a monograph on fossil Varanidae and on Megalanidae. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 16 : 341 465, pls GF. 1935. Further contributions to a monography of the Megalanidae and fossil Varanidae with notes on recent varanians. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 29 : 1 130 pls.
12. Fürbringer M. 1900. Beitrag zur systematic und genealogie der reptilien. Jenaischen Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaften 34 : 596 682.
13. Gaffney ES. 1992. Ninjemys, a new name for 'Meiolania' oweni (Woodward), a horned turtle from the Pleistocene of Queensland. American Museum Novitates 3049 : 1 10.
14. Gould GC, McFadden BJ. 2004. Gigantism, dwarfism, and Cope's Rule: 'Nothing in Evolution Makes Sense without a Phylogeny Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 285 : 219 237.
15. Gray JE. 1827. A synopsis of the genera of saurian reptiles, in which some new genera are indicated, and the others reviewed by actual examination. Philosophical Magazine and Annals of Philosophy (New Series) 2 : 54 58.
16. Hecht MK. 1975. The morphology and relationships of the largest known terrestrial lizard, Megalania prisca Owen, from the Pleistocene of Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 87 : 239 250.
17. Huxley TH. 1887. Preliminary note on the fossil remains of a chelonian reptile, Ceratochelys sthenurus, from Lord Howe's Island, Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 42 : 232 238.
18. International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1999. International code of zoological nomenclature, 4th edn. London : International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.
19. Lee MSY. 1996. Possible affinities between Varanus giganteus and Megalania prisca. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 39 : 232.
20. Lydekker R. 1888. Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History), Part I. The orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Protorosauria. London : Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History).
21. Lydekker R. 1889. Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History), Part III. The order Chelonia. London : Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History).
22. Maddison WP, Maddison DR. 2002. MacClade: analysis of phylogeny and character evolution. Version 4.05. Sunderland : Sinauer Press.
23. Marsh OC. 1884. Principal characteristics of Jurassic North American dinosaurs. Part VIII. Order Theropoda. American Journal of Science (Series 3) 27 : 329 340.
24. McDowell SB, Bogart CM. 1954. The systematic position of Lanthanotus and the affinities of anguimorphan lizards. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 105 : 1 142, pl B. 1820. Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien. Marburg.
25. Mertens R. 1942. Die Familie der Warane (Varanidae). (3 parts). Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft 462 : 1 391.
26. Molnar RE. 1990. New cranial material of a giant varanid from Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 29 : 437 444.
27. Molnar RE. 2004. Dragons in the dust. The paleobiology of the giant monitor lizard Megalania. Bloomington and Indianapolis : Indiana University Press.
28. Nopcsa F. 1908. Zur kenntis der fossilen eidechsen. Beiträge zur Paläontologie und Geologie Österreich-Ungarns und des Orients 21 : 33 62, pl MA, Gao K. 1997. Braincase and phylogenetic relationships of Estesia mongoliensis from the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert and the recognition of a new clade of lizards. American Museum Novitates 3211 : 1 25.
29. Oelrich TM. 1956. The anatomy of the head of Ctenosaura pectinata (Iguanidae). Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 94 : 1 122.
30. Oppel M. 1811. Die Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen der Reptilien, als Prodrom einer Naturgeschichte derselben. Munich : Joseph Lindauer.
31. Owen R. 1859. Description of some remains of a gigantic land-lizard (Megalania prisca, Owen) from Australia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 149 : 43 48, pl R. 1880. Description of some remains of a gigantic land-lizard (Megalania prisca, Owen) from Australia.- Part II. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 171 : 1037 1050, pls R. 1884. Evidence of a large extinct lizard (Notiosaurus dentatus, Owen) from Pleistocene deposits, New South Wales, Australia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 175 : 249 251, pl R. 1886a. Description of fossil remains, including foot bones, of Megalania prisca. Part IV. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 177 : 327 330, pls R. 1886b. Description of fossil remains of two species of a megalanian genus (Meiolania) from 'Lord Howe's Island Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 177 : 471 480, pls R. 1888. On parts of the skeleton of Meiolania platyceps (Ow.). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 179 : 181 191, pls ER. 1995. Evolution of body size: varanid lizards as a model system. The American Naturalist 146 : 398 414.
32. Pianka ER, Vitt LJ. 2003. Lizards: windows to the evolution of diversity. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press.
33. Rich TH, Hall B. 1979. Rebuilding a giant. Australian Natural History 19 : 310 313.
34. Rieppel O. 1983. A comparison of the skull of Lanthanotus borneensis (Reptilia: Varanoidea) with the skull of primitive snakes. Zeitschrift für zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 21 : 142 153.
35. Rieppel O, Zaher H. 2000. The braincases of mosasaurs and Varanus, and the relationships of snakes. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 129 : 489 514.
36. Säve-Söderbergh G. 1946. On the fossa hypophyseos and the attachment of the retractor bulbi group in Sphenodon, Varanus, and Lacerta. Arkiv för Zoologi 38A : 1 24.
37. de Vis CW. 1889. On Megalania and its allies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 6 : 93 99, pl GB. 1906. The cranial nerves of Varanus bivittatus. Gegenbaurs Morphologisches Jahrbuch 35 : 450 472.
38. Woodward AS. 1888. Note on the extinct reptilian genera Megalania, Owen and Meiolania, Owen. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 6) 1 : 85 89.
39. Zietz A. 1899. Notes upon some fossil reptilian remains from the Warburton River, near Lake Eyre. Transactions, Proceedings and Reports of the Royal Society of South Australia 23 : 208 210.