The Lower Cretaceous (Albian age) locality of Pietraroia, near Benevento in southern Italy, has yielded a diverse assemblage of fossil vertebrates, including at least one genus of rhynchocephalian (Derasmosaurus) and two named lizards (Costasaurus and Chometokadmon), as well as the exquisitely preserved small dinosaur, Scipionyx. Here we describe material pertaining to a new species of the fossil lizard genus Eichstaettisaurus (E. gouldi sp. nov.). Eichstaettisaurus was first recorded from the Upper Jurassic (Tithonian age) Solnhofen Limestones of Germany, and more recently from the basal Cretaceous (Berriasian) of Montsec, Spain. The new Italian specimen provides a significant extension to the temporal range of Eichstaettisaurus while supporting the hypothesis that the Pietraroia assemblage may represent a relictual island fauna. The postcranial morphology of the new eichstaettisaur suggests it was predominantly ground−living. Further skull material of E. gouldi sp. nov. was identified within the abdominal cavity of a second new lepidosaurian skeleton from the same locality. This second partial skeleton is almost certainly rhynchocephalian, based primarily on foot and pelvic structure, but it is not Derasmosaurus and cannot be accommodated within any known genus due to the unusual morphology of the tail vertebrae.
The sinuous double-row dentition of Pleurodontagama aenigmatodes, the Late Cretaceous Mongolian relative of the Acrodonta is a possible initial stage of evolution of tooth permanency in the Acrodonta. The reconstructed ontogenetic development of this dentition is considered as a model of evolutionary events that resulted in tooth permanency. The acceleration of the posteriad growth of jaws, that occurred at the origin of the Acrodonta, was probably followed by both peripheral and interstitial growth of the dental lamina. Created by the interstitial growth, the interdental spaces were not large enough to allow for the inclusion of the subsequently developed teeth into the main (labial) tooth row. Their blockage resulted in the eventual total blockage of tooth replacement. The requirements of the precise occlusion resulted in a reduction of the redundant lingual tooth row of the Pleurodontagama type. The dentition subsequently changed into a one-row permanent type increasing by a sequential addition of teeth. The patterns of dentition in the sphenodontidans and the varanoids may also result from evolutionary changes of skull proportions via the differential growth of jaws and consequent adjustment of the dental lamina.