Carusia intermedia (Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1985) was originally described as a questionable Scincomorphan, with the namne Carolina. Kequin and Norell (1998) shfted Carusia to the base of the Anguimorpha, where it almost resides here. Derived from the basal Anguimorph, Yabeinosaurus, this little round-headed lizard was ancestral to the skinks (including amphisbaenids), but not the varanoids (including snakes).

Overall smaller than and distinct from Yabeinosaurus, the skull of Carusia was shorter and rounder, about as short and round as possible (comparable to a sister taxon, Sineoamphisbaena. The naris was smaller. The teeth were shorter. The postfrontal and postorbital were coosified. The squamosal contacted the jugal at the postorbital process. The upper temporal fenestra was larger.

Borsuk-Bialynicka M 1985. Carolinidae, a new family of xenosaurid-like lizards from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Acta Palaeontologica Poonica. 30: 151-176.

Borsuk-Bialynicka M 1987. Carusia, a new name for the Later Cretaceous lizard Carolina Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1985. Ibid. 32:153.

Kequin G and Norell MA 1998. Taxonomic Revision of Carusia (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert and Phylogenetic Relationships of Anguimorphan Lizards. American Museum Novitates 3230: 51pp.