The first occurrence of Scincomorpha lizard from Nenjiang Formation (lower Campanian) of Jilin, Northeast China

Fossil lizards are scarce in Jinlin Province, with only two jaws of Middle Eocene Acrodonta. Here the authors report the first scincomorph lizard materials from the early Campanian Nenjiang Formation in Nong’an, Changchun, Jilin Province. Three tooth morphologies of scincomorph lizards represented by fragmentary dentaries are tentatively identified as Scincomorpha. The morphology of the crowns indicates probably the insectivorous and omnivorous diets of these small lizards. It is the first lizard fossils discovered in the Late Cretaceous of Northeast China, extends the known paleogeographic distribution of scincomorph lizards, and provides new information about the terrestrial vertebrate fauna of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin.