Lacertibaenia

Lacertibaenia is a clade of squamate reptiles that unites the worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) with the true lizards (Lacertidae). The clade was named by Vidal & Hedges (2005), who recovered the group from analyses of nine nuclear protein-coding genes within their broader clade Laterata (Lacertoidea). Subsequent molecular datasets with broader gene and taxon sampling have repeatedly recovered amphisbaenians as sister to lacertids, corroborating the monophyly of Lacertibaenia. A 2024 satellite-DNA study further supported Lacertibaenia as a coherent lineage.