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]

Ankylopods
Temporal range: Earliest Triassic - Holocene
252–0 Ma
Proganochelys quenstedti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Sauria
Clade: Ankylopoda
Lyson et al., 2012
Extant subclades

Classification edit

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]

Sauria

See also edit

  • Archelosauria, an alternative clade that places turtles as sister taxon to archosaurs.

References edit

  1. ^ Lyson, T.R.; Sperling, E.A.; Heimberg, A.M.; Gauthier, J.A.; King, B.L.; Peterson, K.J. (2012). "MicroRNAs support a turtle + lizard clade". Biol. Lett. 8 (1): 104–107. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0477. PMC 3259949. PMID 21775315.
  2. ^ Schoch, R. R.; Sues, H.-D. (2015). "A Middle Triassic stem-turtle and the evolution of the turtle body plan". Nature. 523 (7562): 584–7. doi:10.1038/nature14472. PMID 26106865.
  3. ^ Joyce, Walter G.; Anquetin, Jérémy; Cadena, Edwin-Alberto; Claude, Julien; Danilov, Igor G.; Evers, Serjoscha W.; Ferreira, Gabriel S.; Gentry, Andrew D.; Georgalis, Georgios L.; Lyson, Tyler R.; Pérez-García, Adán (2021-02-09). "A nomenclature for fossil and living turtles using phylogenetically defined clade names". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 140 (1): 5. doi:10.1186/s13358-020-00211-x. hdl:11336/155192. ISSN 1664-2384.
  4. ^ Simões, Tiago R.; Kammerer, Christian F.; Caldwell, Michael W.; Pierce, Stephanie E. (2022-08-19). "Successive climate crises in the deep past drove the early evolution and radiation of reptiles". Science Advances. 8 (33). doi:10.1126/sciadv.abq1898. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 9390993. PMID 35984885.
  5. ^ Schoch, Rainer R.; Sues, Hans-Dieter (24 June 2015). "A Middle Triassic stem-turtle and the evolution of the turtle body plan" (PDF). Nature. 523 (7562): 584–587. doi:10.1038/nature14472. PMID 26106865.