Archelosauria | |
---|---|
Proganochelys quenstedti | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Sauria |
Clade: |
Archelosauria Crawford et al., 2014 |
Extant Subclades | |
Archelosauria is a clade proposed in 2014 for the grouping of turtles and archosaurs (birds and crocodilians) and their fossil relatives. There were about 1000 ultra-conserved elements in their genome that are unique to turtles and archosaurs, but are not found in lepidosaurs (tuatara, lizards and snakes). Other genome-wide analysis also supports this grouping.
Archelosauria is a group used to unite archosaurs with turtles. It was found that Archelosauria was grouped within Sauria, as the sister branch to lizards and Sphenodon. Below is the phylogeny from Crawford et al., showing interrelationships of Testudines at family level down to Durocryptodira.
Ankylopoda, an alternative clade that places turtles as sister taxon to lepidosaurs.