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The evolution and interrelationships of carnivorous squamates (mosasaurs, snakes, monitor lizards, Gila Monsters) are a contentious part of reptile systematics and go to the heart of conflict between morphological and molecular data in inferring evolutionary history. One of the best-preserved fossils in this motley grouping is “Saniwa” feisti Stritzke, 1983, represented by complete skeletons from the early-middle Eocene of Messel, Germany. We re-describe it on the basis of superficial examination, stereoradiography, and high-resolution X-ray computed tomography of new and published specimens. The scalation of the lizard is unique, consisting of small, keeled scales on the head (including a row of enlarged medial supraorbitals) and large, rhomboidal, keeled scales (invested by osteoderms) that covered the rest of the body. Two paired longitudinal rows of enlarged scales ran down the neck. The head was laterally compressed and box-shaped due to the presence of a strong canthal-temporal ridge; the limbs and tail were very long. Notable osteological features include: a toothed, strap-like vomer; septomaxilla with a long posterior process; palpebral with a long posterolateral process; a lacrimal boss and a single lacrimal foramen; a well-developed cultriform process of the parabasisphenoid; two hypoglossal (XII) foramina in addition to the vagus; a lack of resorption pits for replacement teeth; and possibly the presence of more than one wave of developing replacement teeth per locus. There are no osteological modifications suggestive of an intramandibular hinge, but postmortem displacement of the angular-prearticular-surangular complex in multiple specimens suggests that there might have been some degree of mobility in the lower jaw based on soft-tissue modifications. Using phylogenetic analyses on a data-set comprising 473 morphological characters and 46 DNA loci, we infer that a monophyletic Palaeovaranidae Georgalis, 2017, including Eosaniwa Haubold, 1977, lies on the stem of Varanidae Merrem, 1820, basal to various Cretaceous Mongolian taxa. We transfer feisti to the new genus Paranecrosaurus n. gen. Analysis of gut contents reveals only the second known specimen of the cryptozoic lizard Cryptolacerta hassiaca Müller, Hipsley, Head, Kardjilov, Hilger, Wuttke & Reisz, 2011, confirming a diet that was at least partly carnivorous; the preservation of the teeth of C. hassiaca suggests that the gastric physiology of Paranecrosaurus feisti (Stritzke, 1983) n. comb. had high acidity but low enzyme activity. Based on the foregoing and linear discriminant function analysis, we reconstruct P. feisti n. comb., as a powerful, widely roaming, faunivorous-carnivorous stem monitor lizard with a sensitive snout. If the molecular phylogeny of anguimorphs is correct, then many of the features shared by Helodermatidae Gray, 1837 and Varanidae must have arisen convergently, partly associated with diet. In that case, a reconciliation of morphological and molecular data would require the discovery of equally primitive fossils on the helodermatid stem.
The adult stage of Helioandesia tarregai gen. et sp. nov. (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutoidea: Heliodinidae) is described and illustrated from the arid western slopes of the Andes of northern Chile. The larvae of H. tarregai gen. et sp. nov. feed as leaf skeletonizers on Mirabilis acuta (Reiche) Heimerl (Nyctaginaceae). The mostly gray forewing of H. tarregai gen. et sp. nov., ornamented with strongly bulging metallic spots, resembles that of the representatives of the mainly Nearctic Lithariapteryx Chambers, 1876. However, the latter lacks CuP in the forewing, has a single bristle in the female frenulum, and lacks a well-developed cornutus. Helioandesia gen. nov. clustered as sister to Neoheliodines Hsu, 2004 in a cladistic analysis, although no synapomorphies were found for this cluster, while Lithariapteryx was sister to Helioandesia gen. nov. + Neoheliodines based on two synapomorphies. The genetic distance between a DNA barcode sequence of H. tarregai gen. et sp. nov. and representatives of other genera of Heliodinidae Heinemann, 1877 was 9.0–12.5% (K2P), and a maximum likelihood analysis based on this molecular marker confirmed the placement of H. tarregai gen. et sp. nov. as a member of this micromoth family. This contribution represents the first confirmed record of Heliodinidae for Chile.
A new genus with a new species of soft-winged flower beetle, Pectotibialis paghmanensis Tshernyshev gen. et sp. nov. are described from Afghanistan. The new genus can be distinguished from the congeners of the tribe Apalochrini by the dark pectination in the apices of tibiae in both sexes, and the anterior tibiae which are hollowed at distal half, flattened and rounded femora, bituberculate basal parts of head and pronotum, two lamellate metathoracic appendages, tarsal comb above second tarsomere of anterior legs, and serrate antennae in the male. Based on the metathoracic appendages and comb in anterior legs would attribute this new species to the new genus Dromanthomorphus Pic, 1921, but all the other above-mentioned characters define its independent status and the designation of a new genus; Pectotibialis Tshernyshev gen. nov. The external appearance, special male characters and genitalia of the type species of the new genus are illustrated, and a distribution map is provided. A key to the Apalochrus-section of the tribe Apalochrini is provided.
Three subterranean leptodirine leiodid taxa, viz., Bozidaria Ćurčić & Pavićević gen. nov., Bozidaria serbooccidentalis Ćurčić & Pavićević gen. et sp. nov. and Proleonhardella (Proleonhardella) tarensis Ćurčić & Pavićević sp. nov., are described and diagnosed. Bozidaria Ćurčić & Pavićević gen. nov. belongs to the phyletic series of “Leonhardella”. The new beetle taxa differ from their closest relatives in numerous morphological characters. They most likely belong to phyletic lineages of Pliocene age. The new leiodid taxa are endemic to the Dinaric mountain chain of western Serbia. Keys to the leptodirine leiodid genera of the phyletic series of “Leonhardella” and to the taxa of the genus Proleonhardella Jeannel, 1910 are included.