Palæos:

  

Unit 210: Eureptilia

The Vertebrates

Overview

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Eureptilia: Overview

Abbreviated Cladogram

REPTILOMORPHA
|--SYNAPSIDA
`--+--ANAPSIDA
   `--Eureptilia
      |--Protorothyrididae
      `--Diapsida
         |--Araeoscelidans
         `--Neodiapsida
            |--Younginiformes
            `--+--Ichthyosauria
               |  |--Shastasauria
               |  `--Thunnosauria
               `--Sauria
                  |--LEPIDOSAUROMORPHA
                  `--ARCHOSAUROMORPHA

Contents

210.000 Overview
210.100 Eureptilia
210.200 Neodiapsida
210.300 Ichthyosauria
210.400 Euichthyosauria
210.500 Thunnosauria
Cladogram
References

PicoSearch

Introduction

This section covers a set of taxa which bridge the gap in reptile history between the amniote radiation, some time in the middle of the Carboniferous, and the flowering of the archosaur and lepidosauromorph clans in the Triassic. Although the early Eureptilia (or "Romeriida") are rather poorly known, they represent a set of taxa so wildly diverse that we can safely conclude that nothing quite like this extended family has fit under so small a roof in the entire domain of vertebrate phylospace.  Many were vaguely lizard-like terrestrial forms, such as the captorhinids and protorothyrids.  At the other extreme, the ichthyosaurs were the most completely water-adapted tetrapods ever to evolve.  In between, there are many shades of amhibiousness represented by the younginiforms, Claudiosaurus and their cousins.  There were even eureptiles which experimented with flight -- or at least gliding -- among the coelurosauravids.  

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