Pareiasauria

Pareiasauria Temporal range: Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Scutosaurus karpinskii in the American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	†Parareptilia
Order:	†Procolophonomorpha
Node:	†Ankyramorpha
Suborder:	†Procolophonia
Clade:	†Pareiasauromorpha
Superfamily:	† Pareiasauroidea
Clade:	†Pareiasauria Seeley , 1888
Genera
†Bradysaurus †Bunostegos †Deltavjatia †Embrithosaurus †Parasaurus †Senectosaurus †Velosauria †Pumiliopareiasauria †Anthodon † Nanopareia †Provelosaurus †Pumiliopareia †Therischia †Arganaceras †Pareiasaurus †Sanchuansaurus †Scutosaurus †Shihtienfenia †Elgininiinae †Elginia †Obirkovia

Pareiasaurs (meaning "cheek lizards") are an extinct clade of large, herbivorous

Pareiasaurs ranged in size from 60 to 300 centimetres (2.0 to 9.8 ft) long, with some species estimated to exceed 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) in body mass.

Some paleontologists considered that pareiasaurs were direct ancestors of modern turtles. Pareiasaur skulls have several turtle-like features, and in some species the scutes have developed into bony plates, possibly the precursors of a turtle shell.^[13] Jalil and Janvier, in a large analysis of pareiasaur relationships, also found turtles to be close relatives of the "dwarf" pareiasaurs, such as Pumiliopareia.^[14] However, the discovery of Pappochelys argues against a potential pareisaurian relationship to turtles,^[15] and DNA evidence indicates that living turtles are more closely related to living archosaurs than lepidosaurs, and therefore cladistically diapsids.^[16]

Associated clades