Paliguana

Paliguana
Temporal range: Earliest Triassic 252 Ma
Holotype skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Lepidosauromorpha
Family: Paliguanidae
Genus: Paliguana
Broom 1903
Type species
Paliguana whitei
Broom 1903
Life restoration

Paliguana is an extinct genus of lizard-like lepidosauromorph reptile. It is known from a single somewhat poorly preserved skull around 3 centimetres (1.2 in) in length from the earliest Triassic Katberg Formation (Beaufort Group) in the upper Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of South Africa. It is currently the earliest known lepidosauromorph.[1]

Cladogram after Ford, et al. 2021:

Lepidosauromorpha


References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ford, David P.; Evans, Susan E.; Choiniere, Jonah N.; Fernandez, Vincent; Benson, Roger B. J. (2021-08-25). "A reassessment of the enigmatic diapsid Paliguana whitei and the early history of Lepidosauromorpha". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1957): 20211084. doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1084. PMC 8385343. PMID 34428965.
  • Bringing Fossils To Life: An Introduction To Paleobiology by Donald R. Prothero