To be or not to be Angolosaurus : a multilocus perspective on the phylogenetic position of Africa's desert plated lizard (Gerrhosauridae)

The Desert Plated Lizard is a Namib sand dune specialist whose distinct morphological habitus has elicited differing taxonomic interpretations. Originally described as Gerrhosaurus skoogi , the species was later placed in a monotypic genus, Angolosaurus , to emphasize its endemic status and psammophilous condition. Distinct views exist regarding its phylogenetic position as well. General morphological and cranial osteological analyses, respectively, identify the species as either the sister taxon to the remaining African gerrhosaurids or sister taxon to all (African + Madagascan) gerrhosaurids. Alternatively, a mitochondrial DNA phylogeny places the species within the genus Gerrhosaurus . Given these conflicting topologies, we revisit the systematic status of the Desert Plated Lizard, presenting here the first multilocus phylogeny for the African gerrhosaurids. Bayesian inference and maximum‐likelihood analyses depict the Desert Plated Lizard as being nested within a clade containing four species of Gerrhosaurus . This strongly supported clade, recovered in mitochondrial, nuclear and combined gene analyses, corroborates the previous mitochondrial phylogeny. Alternative topologies – in which the species was constrained to correspond to morphological phylogenetic placements – differ significantly from our multilocus topology. Thus, we reiterate and conclude that Angolosaurus is a junior synonym of Gerrhosaurus .