Sphenodontidae

Sphenodontids
Temporal range: Early Jurassic–Holocene, 176–0 Ma
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Rhynchocephalia
Suborder:Sphenodontia
Family:Sphenodontidae
Cope, 1870 (conserved name)
Type species
Hatteria punctata
Gray, 1842
Subgroups
Synonyms
  • Hatteriidae
    Cope, 1864 (rejected name)
  • Rhynchocephalidae
    Hoffmann, 1881 (rejected name)

Sphenodontidae is a family within the reptile group Rhynchocephalia. Most members of this family are only known from fossils but there is one living member, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)[2] from New Zealand. They were a quite ecologically diverse group, ranging from terrestrial carnivores and insectivores (Sphenodon) to aquatic herbivores (Ankylosphenodon) and durophagy (Oenosaurus[3]).

The following is a cladogram of Rhynchocephalia after Rauhut et al. (2012):[3]

Sphenodontidae

 

Sphenodon (Tuatara)

 
 

 

Oenosaurus

 
 

 

Cynosphenodon

 
 

Zapatadon

 
 
 
 

References

  1. ↑ Apesteguia, R. O. Gomez; Rougier, G. W. (2012). "A basal sphenodontian (Lepidosauria) from the Jurassic of Patagonia: new insights on the phylogeny and biogeography of Gondwanan rhynchocephalians". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166: 342–360. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00837.x. [R. Benson/R. Benson]
  2. ↑ Sphenodon punctatus in the Reptile Database, accessed 23 Jan 2016
  3. 1 2 Rauhut, O. W. M.; Heyng, A. M.; López-Arbarello, A.; Hecker, A. (2012). "A new rhynchocephalian from the Late Jurassic of Germany with a dentition that is unique amongst tetrapods". PLOS ONE. 7 (10): e46839. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046839. PMC 3485277. PMID 23118861.


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