The transition between terrestrial varanoid lizards and aquatic mosasaurs through the intermediate, semi-aquatic aigialosaurs is fully documented. Aigialosaurs are shown to possess a mosaic of mosasaurian (configuration of the skull, jaw and tail) and terrestrial varanoid characters (appendicular skeleton and trunk). / The taxonomic position of the Aigialosauridae within the superfamily Varanoidea is evaluated. Based on character states previously used to define the Varanoidea, neither the specific affinities of aigialosaurs nor the sister-group relationships of earlier members of the terrestrial varanoid assemblage can be securely established. For this reason, the specific character states involved have been reexamined and alternative hypotheses of relationship have been considered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59631 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Debraga, Michael |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001170758, proquestno: AAIMM66368, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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