Procolophonia

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Procolophonians
Temporal range:
Ma
Pareiasaurus (Pareiasauromorpha)
Sclerosaurus (Procolophonoidea)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Parareptilia
Order: Procolophonomorpha
Node: Ankyramorpha
Suborder: Procolophonia
Seeley
, 1888
Subgroups

Procolophonia is an extinct

Anapsida or "Parareptiles" (as opposed to the Eureptilia
).

Classification

There are two main groups of Procolophonia, the small, lizard-like

sister taxon of Procolophonia by many studies, however recently discovered material places it within the group, as the sister taxon of Procolophonoidea.[2]

The following cladogram is simplified after the phylogenetic analysis of MacDougall and Reisz (2014) and shows the placement of Procolophonia within Parareptilia. Relationships within bolded terminal clades are not shown.[2]

Parareptilia

Mesosaurus

Millerosauria

Procolophonomorpha

Australothyris smithi

Hallucicrania (=Ankyramorpha)

Lanthanosuchoidea

Microleter mckinzieorum

Relationship to turtles

The procolophonians were traditionally thought to be ancestral to the

Archosauria).[3]
This placement within the diapsids suggests that the turtle lineage lost diapsid skull characteristics as it now possesses an anapsid skull.

References

Notes
Sources

External links