Early Cretaceous lizards from Las Hoyas, Spain

The Lower Cretaceous lithographic limestone locality of Las Hoyas (Cuenca Province, Spain) has yielded a rich terrestrial and freshwater assemblage including early angiosperms, insects, birds, crocodiles, a dinosaur, amphibians and lizards. The Las Hoyas lizards are represented by three distinct taxa, of which one, Meyasaurus Vidal 1915, has been described from other Spanish localities of similar age. The Las Hoyas specimens provide the first complete examples of Meyasaurus, permitting both a derailed morphological description and a comprehensive analysis of phylogenetic position. Meyasaurus is shown to be a lacertoid scincomorph related to teiioids. Furthermore, in providing an association between the skull and postcranium, the Las Hoyas specimens of Meyasaurus show that the Montsec genus Ilerdaesaurus Hoffstetter 1966 is a junior symonym of Meyasaurus Vidal 1915. (C) 1997 The Linnean Society of London.