PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ledesma, David T.
AU  - Scarpetta, Simon G.
AU  - Jacisin, John J.
AU  - Meza, Antonio
AU  - Kemp, Melissa E.
TI  - Identification of Late Pleistocene and Holocene fossil lizards from Hall’s Cave and a primer on morphological variation in North American lizard skulls
AID  - 10.1101/2023.07.25.549934
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2023.07.25.549934
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/07/26/2023.07.25.549934.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/07/26/2023.07.25.549934.full
AB  - Fossil identification practices have a profound effect on our interpretation of the past because these identifications form the basis for downstream analyses. Therefore, well-supported fossil identifications are paramount for examining the impact of past environmental changes on populations and communities. Here we apply an apomorphic identification framework in a case study identifying fossil lizard remains from Hall’s Cave, a late Quaternary fossil site located in Central Texas, USA. We present images and descriptions of a broad comparative sample of North American lizard cranial elements and compile new and previously reported apomorphic characters for identifying fossil lizards. Our fossil identifications from Hall’s Cave resulted in a minimum of 11 lizard taxa, including five lizard taxa previously unknown from the site. Most of the identified fossil lizard taxa inhabit the area around Hall’s Cave today, but we reinforce the presence of an extirpated species complex of horned lizard. A main goal of this work is to establish a procedure for making well-supported fossil lizard identifications across North America. The data from this study will assist researchers endeavoring to identify fossil lizards, increasing the potential for novel discoveries related to North American lizards and facilitating more holistic views of ancient faunal assemblages.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.