Monstersauria
| Monstersaurs Temporal range: Early Miocene to Recent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gila monster, Heloderma suspectum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Superfamily: | Varanoidea |
| (unranked): | Monstersauria |
Monstersauria is a clade of varanoid lizards, defined as all taxa more closely related to Heloderma than Varanus. It includes Heloderma, as well as several extinct genera, such as Estesia and Gobiderma, but it was found to be polyphyletic in the most recent and complete squamate phylogenetic analysis by Reeder et al. (2015).[1]
References
- โ Tod W. Reeder, Ted M. Townsend, Daniel G. Mulcahy, Brice P. Noonan, Perry L. Wood, Jr., Jack W. Sites, Jr. and John J. Wiens (2015). "Integrated Analyses Resolve Conflicts over Squamate Reptile Phylogeny and Reveal Unexpected Placements for Fossil Taxa". PLoS ONE 10 (3): e0118199. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118199.