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These lizards are particularly interesting because of their different ecological adaptations and anti\u2010predation strategies, where conformation ranges from the lizard\u2010like body to a snake\u2010like body. This transition to serpentiform morphology shows several evolutionary patterns in the atlas\u2013axis complex: 1) the zygapophyseal articulations are lost in the early stage of the transition. In contrast to mammals, the atlas is more or less locked to the axis in lepidosaurs, but the absence of zygapophyseal articulation releases this locking for rotation. However despite its serpentiform morphology, <jats:italic>Chamaesaura<\/jats:italic> is different, in possessing this articulation; 2) the first intercentrum of <jats:italic>Chamaesaura<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Tetradactylus africanus<\/jats:italic> (serpentiform grass\u2010swimmers) is fully curved anteriorly, underlying the occipital condyle. While this limits ventral skull rotation beyond a certain angle, it locks the skull, which is a crucial adaptation for a sit\u2010and\u2010wait position in grassland habitats that needs to keep the head stabilized; and 3) in <jats:italic>Acontias<\/jats:italic>, most of the atlas articular surface with the occipital condyle is formed by the lateral aspect of the articulation area relative to the area located in the dorsal region of the slightly reduced intercentrum. A similar state occurs in amphisbaenians, most likely reflecting a fossorial lifestyle of the limbless lizards.<\/jats:p><jats:p>Although <jats:italic>Chamaesaura<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Tetradactylus<\/jats:italic> live sympatrically in grasslands, <jats:italic>Chamaesaura<\/jats:italic> differs in several ways in atlas\u2013axis complex: for example, aforementioned presence of the atlas\u2013axis zygapophyseal articulation, and long posterodorsal processes. Its occipital condyle protrudes further posteriorly, placing the atlas\u2013axis complex further from the endocranium than in <jats:italic>Tetradactylus<\/jats:italic>. Hence, adaptation in the same niche, even among sister clades, can lead to different atlas\u2013axis morphology due to different lifestyle strategies, for example, different foraging mode, while similar atlas\u2013axis morphology can evolve in two lineages occupying different niches, as in <jats:italic>Ablepharus<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Scelotes<\/jats:italic>. J. Morphol. 277:512\u2013536, 2016. \u00a9 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/jmor.20516","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,13]],"date-time":"2016-02-13T14:49:05Z","timestamp":1455374945000},"page":"512-536","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["From lizard body form to serpentiform morphology: The atlas\u2013axis complex in <scp>A<\/scp>frican cordyliformes and their relatives"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"277","author":[{"given":"Andrej","family":"\u010cer\u0148ansk\u00fd","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Ecology, Comenius University in Bratislava Mlynsk\u00e1 Dolina B\u20101 Bratislava 84215 Slovakia"},{"name":"Museum F\u00fcr Naturkunde \u2013 Leibniz\u2010Institut F\u00fcr Evolutions\u2010 Und Biodiversit\u00e4tsforschung an Der Humboldt\u2010Universit\u00e4t Zu Berlin Invalidenstr. 43 Berlin 10115 Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_6_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.3750.5.3"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_3_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Der Ubergang von Echse zu Schleichein der Gattung Tetradactylus Merrem","volume":"110","author":"Berger\u2010Dell'mour H.","year":"1983","journal-title":"Zool Lb Anat"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_4_1","first-page":"21","article-title":"Cape lizards. 7. 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