Sauria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sauria
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida/Reptilia
Subclass: Diapsida
(unranked) Neodiapsida
(unranked) Sauria
Gauthier1984
Groups

Lepidosauromorpha
Archosauromorpha

Sauria is also the name of a fictional planet in the Star Fox series.

Sauria is a clade of reptiles that includes all living diapsids, as well as their common ancestor and all its extinct descendants. The ancestral saurian was probably a small lizard-like creature living in the Permian Period. This crown group is diagnosed by a number of details in skull and skeleton, and comprises the two important clades Lepidosauromorpha and Archosauromorpha.

The term "Sauria" has previously been used as a synonym of (Lacertilia), a suborder of Squamata that includes all lizards but excludes snakes. This classification is rarely used today because as Sauria so-defined is a paraphyletic group.

[edit] References

  • Callaway, J.M. (1997), Ichthyosauria: Introduction, in JM Callaway & EL Nicholls (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles. Academic Press, pp. 3-16.

[edit] External links