Abstract
The Canary Islands are an Atlantic archipelago known for its high number of endemic species. Among the most known endemic vertebrate species are the giant lizards of the genus Gallotia. We describe the cranial osteology of the first almost complete and articulated fossil skull of the taxon Gallotia auaritae, recovered from the lower-middle Pleistocene of the La Palma island. In this work, X-ray computed microtomography images were used to perform an exhaustive phylogenetic analysis where most of the extant and fossil species of the genus Gallotia were included for first time. This analysis recovered a monophyletic Gallotia clade with similar topology to that of molecular analyses. The newly described specimen shares some characters with the group formed by G. bravoana, G. intermedia and G. simonyi, G. auaritae, and its position is compatible with a referral to the latter. Our study adds new important data to the poorly known cranial morphology of G. auaritae, and the phylogenetic analysis reveals an unexpected power of resolution to obtain a morphology-based phylogeny for the genus Gallotia, for inferring the phylogenetic position of extinct species and for helping in the identification of fossil specimens.
Highlights
Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. 4School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK. 5Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Salamanca, Plaza de la Merced s/n, 37008, Salamanca, Spain. 6Centro Fermi, Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro di Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, Piazza del Viminale 1, 00184, Roma, Italy. 7Multidisciplinary Laboratory, The “Abdus Salam” International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, It is beyond the scope of this paper to exhaustively review the convoluted taxonomical history of the giant forms of the genus Gallotia
We have decided to keep the current status of giant taxa as follows, acknowledging that morphological basis for the differentiation of some of these taxa are lacking or are at least problematic: G. stehlini in Gran Canaria; G. goliath and G. intermedia in Tenerife; G. bravoana in La Gomera; G. auaritae in La Palma; and G. simonyi in El Hierro
Reported fossil specimens assigned to the giant species G. auaritae were based on a limited number of elements, but we report for the first time an articulated skull (PCCRULL1169; Figs 1 and 2) in an exceptional state of three-dimensional preservation from La Palma island
Summary
Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain. 4School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK. 5Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Salamanca, Plaza de la Merced s/n, 37008, Salamanca, Spain. 6Centro Fermi, Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro di Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, Piazza del Viminale 1, 00184, Roma, Italy. 7Multidisciplinary Laboratory, The “Abdus Salam” International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, It is beyond the scope of this paper to exhaustively review the convoluted taxonomical history of the giant forms of the genus Gallotia. We have decided to keep the current status of giant taxa as follows, acknowledging that morphological basis for the differentiation of some of these taxa are lacking or are at least problematic: G. stehlini in Gran Canaria (and introduced in Fuerteventura); G. goliath (extinct) and G. intermedia in Tenerife; G. bravoana in La Gomera; G. auaritae (extinct, with an unconfirmed sighting, Mínguez et al.14) in La Palma; and G. simonyi in El Hierro. Reported fossil specimens assigned to the giant species G. auaritae were based on a limited number of elements, but we report for the first time an articulated skull (PCCRULL1169; Figs 1 and 2) in an exceptional state of three-dimensional preservation from La Palma island. G. auaritae has more dentary and maxillary teeth than G. simonyi and G. bravoana, and less than G. goliath (see Barahona et al.[5] and Mateo et al.[8])
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