Lizard biogeography

[John R. Grehan]

I am continuing to add examples to the web page on reptiles and I have just
posted an example that may be of general interest given its highly
restricted and disjunct distribution. This concerns two lizard families -
Dibamidae and Xenosauridae. These are not closely related. Both occur in
Mexico and south eastern Asia. I would be interested to know if anyone is
aware of fossil records from either family that occur outside the range of
the extant forms. Given the modern distribution both groups have the
appearance of a Pacific homology (i.e. they share the same baseline
according to the criteria of main massing and minimum distance with respect
to the Pacific basin as the major tectonic feature crossed by their tracks).

Their dispersal can be viewed at the following link.

http://www.ento.psu.edu/home/Frost/Research/Biogeography/Panbiogeography/Taxonomiclist/AmphibiansReptiles/Reptiles.htm

John Grehan
Frost Entomological Museum
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Entomology
501 ASI Building
University Park, PA 16802. USA.

Phone: (814) 863-2865
Fax: (814) 865-3048

Frost Museum
http://www.ento.psu.edu/home/Frost/index.html