Neodiapsida
Neodiapsida is a clade, or major branch, of the reptilian family tree, typically defined as including all diapsids apart from some early primitive types known as the araeoscelidians. Modern reptiles and birds belong to the neodiapsid subclade Sauria.
Neodiapsids | |
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Skull of Orovenator, the earliest known neodiapsid | |
Skeleton of Megalancosaurus, a drepanosaur | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Diapsida |
Clade: | Neodiapsida Benton, 1985 |
Subgroups and genera | |
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The oldest known neodiapsids are Orovenator and Maiothisavros from the Early Permian of North America, around 290 million years old.
Basal-non saurian neodiaspids were ancestrally lizard-like, but basal non-saurian neodiapsids include aquatic/amphibious taxa (Claudiosaurus and some tangasaurids) the gliding lizard-like Weigeltisauridae, as well as the Triassic chameleon-like drepanosaurs. The position of the highly derived Mesozoic marine reptile groups Thalattosauria, Ichthyosauromorpha and Sauropterygia within Neodiapsida is uncertain, and they may lie within Sauria.