Figure 6. Character history of the width of the first metacarpal compared to the character history of grasping abilities.

Left tree: character history of the width of the first metacarpal. The most parsimonious state for the common ancestor is an intermediate value, which is also coincidently the most frequent value in the tree (green range). The narrowest first metacarpal bone, which appears independently in Phyllopezus sp. and Anisolepis sp., is followed by Anolis sp., Gonatodes sp., and Pholidobolus sp. Gekkota tend to present narrow first metacarpal bones. Gymnophthalmidae and Teiidae show a trend toward first metacarpals with intermediate to wide values. Anguimorpha and Iguania show a wider range of first metacarpal widths, including representatives of the narrowest (Anisolepis sp.) and the widest (Uromastix sp. and Physignatus sp.) bones. Right tree: character history of grasping abilities.