Ankylopoda
Ankylopoda is a clade that contains turtles and lepidosaurs (Tuatara, lizards and snakes) and their fossil relatives. This clade is supported based on microRNAs[1] as well as the fossil record.[2] Stem-turtles and lepidosaurs have unique skull elements and features not seen in archosaurs (represented by extant crocodilians and birds).
| Ankylopoda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Proganochelys quenstedti | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Sauria |
| Clade: | Ankylopoda Lyson et al., 2012 |
| Extant subclades | |
Classification
The cladogram below follows the most likely result found by another analysis of turtle relationships, this one using only fossil evidence, published by Rainer Schoch and Hans-Dieter Sues in 2015. This study found Eunotosaurus to be an actual early stem-turtle, though other versions of the analysis found weak support for it as a parareptile.[3]
| Sauria |
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See also
Archelosauria, an alternative clade that places turtles as sister taxon to archosaurs.
References
- Lyson, T.R.; Sperling, E.A.; Heimberg, A.M.; Gauthier, J.A.; King, B.L.; Peterson, K.J. (2012). "MicroRNAs support a turtle + lizard clade". Biol. Lett. 8 (1): 104–107. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0477. PMC 3259949. PMID 21775315.
- Schoch, R. R.; Sues, H.-D. (2015). "A Middle Triassic stem-turtle and the evolution of the turtle body plan". Nature. 523 (7562): 584–7. doi:10.1038/nature14472. PMID 26106865.
- Schoch, Rainer R.; Sues, Hans-Dieter (24 June 2015). "A Middle Triassic stem-turtle and the evolution of the turtle body plan" (PDF). Nature. 523 (7562): 584–587. doi:10.1038/nature14472. PMID 26106865.