Parareptilia
| Parareptiles Temporal range: Asselian - Rhaetian, 298.9–201.3 Ma |
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| Skeleton of a parareptile (Bradysaurus baini) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: |
†Parareptilia Olson, 1947 |
| Orders | |
Parareptilia ("at the side of reptiles") is a subclass or clade of reptiles which is variously defined as an extinct group of primitive anapsids, or a more cladistically correct alternative to Anapsida. Whether the term is valid depends on the phylogenetic position of turtles, the relationships of which to other reptilian groups are still uncertain.
The name Parareptilia was coined by Olson in 1947 to refer to an extinct group of Paleozoic reptiles, as opposed to the rest of the reptiles or Eureptilia ("true reptiles").
The name fell into disuse until it was revived by cladistic studies, to refer to those anapsids that were thought to be unrelated to turtles. Gauthier et al. 1988 provided the first phylogenetic definitions for the names of many amniote taxa and argued that captorhinids and turtles were sister groups, constituting the clade Anapsida (in a much more limited context than the definition given by Romer in 1967). A name had to be found for various Permian and Triassic reptiles no longer included in the anapsids, and "parareptiles" was chosen. However, they did not feel confident enough to erect Parareptilia as a formal taxon. Their cladogram was as follows:
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