Anguidae

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Cladus: Unidentata, Episquamata, Toxicofera
Subordo: Anguimorpha
Infraordo: Neoanguimorpha
Superfamilia: Diploglossa

Familia: Anguidae
Subfamiliae (2 + †1): Anguinae – Gerrhonotinae – †Gerrhonotinae
Overview of genera

Abronia – Anguis – Barisia – Dopasia – Elgaria – Gerrhonotus – Hyalosaurus – Mesaspis – Ophisaurus – Pseudopus – †Glyptosaurus – †Helodermoides – †Odaxosaurus – †Paraglyptosaurus – †Paraplacosauriops – †Placosaurus – †Proglyptosaurus – †Proxestops

Name

Anguidae Gray, 1825: 201
References
Primary references

Gray, J.E. 1825. A synopsis of the genera of reptiles and Amphibia, with a description of some new species. Annals of Philosophy 10: 193–217. BHL Reference page.

Additional references

Macey, J.R., Schulte, J.A., Larson, A., Tuniyev, B.S., Orlov, N.L. & Papenfuss, T.J. 1999. Molecular Phylogenetics, tRNA Evolution, and Historical Biogeography in Anguid Lizards and Related Taxonomic Families. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12(3): 250–272. DOI: 10.1006/mpev.1999.0615 Paywall Reference page.
Vidal, N. & Hedges, S.B. 2009. The molecular evolutionary tree of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians. Comptes Rendus Biologies 332(2-3): 129–139. DOI: 10.1016/j.crvi.2008.07.010 Open access Reference page.
Pyron, R.A., Burbrink, F.T. & Wiens, J.J. 2013. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 13:93. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93 Open access Reference page.
Lavin, B.R. & Girman, D.J. 2019. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence dating in the Glass Lizards (Anguinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 133: 128–140. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.12.022 Paywall Reference page.

Vernacular names
беларуская: Вераценніцавыя
македонски: Слепоци
українська: Веретільницеві

Anguidae refers to a large and diverse family of lizards native to the Northern Hemisphere. Common characteristics of this group include a reduced supratemporal arch, striations on the medial faces of tooth crowns, osteoderms, and a lateral fold in the skin of most taxa.[1] The group includes the slowworms, glass lizards, and alligator lizards, among others. The family is divided into three subfamilies (Anguinae, Diploglossinae, and Gerrhonotinae), and contains about 100 species in 10 genera.

Morphology and reproduction

Anguids have hard osteoderms beneath their scales giving them an armored appearance. Many of the species have reduced or absent limbs, giving them a snake-like appearance, while others are fully limbed.[2] Body type varies among species, with sizes ranging from 10 cm to 1.5 m. The group includes oviparous and viviparous species, both of which can be observed in a single genus at times.[2][1]
Feeding and habitat

These lizards are known carnivorous or insectivorous foragers, feeding primarily on insects, although larger species have been known to feed on small reptiles and amphibians. They inhabit a wide range of different habitats across the globe, from arid to tropical environments. Most known species are terrestrial or semifossorial, with the exception of one arboreal genus: Abronia.[1]
Evolution
Helodermoides tuberculatus fossil

Anguids have a relatively good fossil record and are relatively common as fossils in the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene of western North America. The oldest known anguid, with the most complete fossil record of any lizard, is Odaxosaurus, a member of the extinct anguid subfamily Glyptosaurinae, from the late Campanian of Canada, about 75 million years ago. Odaxosaurus and other Late Cretaceous anguids already exhibit many features found in living anguids, including chisel-like teeth and armor plates in the skin, suggesting a long evolutionary history for the group. Anguids were particularly diverse during the Paleocene and Eocene in North America; some species, such as those belonging to Glyptosaurinae, [1] grew to large size and evolved a highly specialized crushing dentition. The long fossil record for the Anguidae in North America suggests that the group probably evolved in North America during the Cretaceous before dispersing to Europe in the Paleogene.
This figure shows a simplified phylogeny of the Anguid subfamilies based on maximum-likelihood analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data.[3]
Classification

Family ANGUIDAE

Subfamily Anguinae
Genus Anguis - slowworms (two species)
Genus Dopasia - Asian glass lizards (seven species)
Genus Hyalosaurus - North African glass lizard (one species)
Genus Ophisaurus - American glass lizards (five species)
Genus Pseudopus - scheltopusik (one extant species)
Subfamily Diploglossinae
Genus Celestus - galliwasps (22 extant species)
Genus Diploglossus - galliwasps (16 species)
Genus Ophiodes - (five species)
Subfamily Gerrhonotinae - alligator lizards
Genus Gerrhonotus - alligator lizards (seven species)
Genus Abronia - arboreal alligator lizards (29 species)
Genus Elgaria - western alligator lizards (seven species)
Subfamily †Glyptosaurinae

Genetic evidence indicates that Diploglossinae lies outside the clade containing Anguinae, Gerrhonotinae, and the family Anniellidae, Therefore it has been placed in own separate family Diploglossidae.[4]
References

"Anguidae". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
Bauer, Aaron M. (1998). Cogger, H.G.; Zweifel, R.G. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 152–155. ISBN 0-12-178560-2.
Wiens, J. J.; Slingluff, J. L. (2001-11-11). "How lizards turn into snakes: a phylogenetic analysis of body-form evolution in anguid lizards". Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution. 55 (11): 2303–2318. doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2001.tb00744.x. ISSN 0014-3820. PMID 11794789. S2CID 2235211.
Burbrink, Frank T; Grazziotin, Felipe G; Pyron, R Alexander; Cundall, David; Donnellan, Steve; Irish, Frances; Keogh, J Scott; Kraus, Fred; Murphy, Robert W; Noonan, Brice; Raxworthy, Christopher J (2020-05-01). Thomson, Robert (ed.). "Interrogating Genomic-Scale Data for Squamata (Lizards, Snakes, and Amphisbaenians) Shows no Support for Key Traditional Morphological Relationships". Systematic Biology. 69 (3): 502–520. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz062. ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 31550008.