Figure 7. Character history of the divergenceangle compared to the character history of grasping abilities.

Left tree: character history of the divergence angle between the first and the fifth metacarpals. The most parsimonious state for the common ancestor is 84°, but the most frequently encountered state corresponds to lower angles (blue range). The evolution of a higher divergence angle initiated in the branch that gave rise to Gekkota (average 100°). Angles over 90° appear independently in Anolis sp., Gekkota and Physignatus sp. In Gymnophthalmidae and Teiidae the general trend is to have angles smaller than 70°, including extreme values such as 40°in Ameivula sp. and Cercosaura sp. Anguimorpha and Iguania present a wider range of angles, from Stenocercus sp. with 44° to Anolis sp. and Physignatus sp., both between 70 and 81°. Right tree: character history of grasping abilities.