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Former group of reptiles
Ankylopoda was a proposed clade that hypothetically contains turtles and lepidosaurs (tuatara, lizards and snakes) and their fossil relatives. This clade was historically supported based on microRNA analysis[1] as well as some cladistic analyses.[2] However, it was strongly contradicted by molecular evidence which supports Archelosauria (the grouping of turtles and archosaurs),[3] and other recent cladistic analyses have supported Archelosauria over Ankylopoda.[4]
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.[5]
See also
- Archelosauria, an alternative clade that places turtles as sister taxon to archosaurs.
References