Araeoscelidia

Araeoscelidians were small animals (less than one meter in length) looking somewhat like lizards, though they are only distantly related to true lizards. They differ from other, earlier sauropsids by their slender limbs, their elongated tail, and of course by the presence of two temporal openings, the feature defining the diapsid condition. In Araeoscelis, only the upper temporal opening remains, thus resulting in a derived euryapsid condition.

Araeoscelidia includes well-known genera such as Araeoscelis Williston 1910,{{harvnb|Vaughn|1955}}{{harvnb|Reisz|Berman|Scott|1984}} Petrolacosaurus Lane 1945{{harvnb|Peabody|1952}}{{harvnb|Reisz|1981}} and Spinoaequalis,{{harvnb|deBraga|Reisz|1995}}{{harvnb|deBraga|Rieppel|1997}} known from virtually complete skeletons. Zarcasaurus,{{harvnb|Brinkman|Berman|Eberth|1984}} Aphelosaurus{{harvnb|Gervais|1859}}{{harvnb|Thévenin|1910}}{{harvnb|Falconnet|Steyer|2007}} and Kadaliosaurus{{harvnb|Credner|1889}} belong to this clade but are known only from post-cranial remains and a mandible fragment for Zarcasaurus.

The genus Dictybolos has been included in Araeoscelidia by Olson (1970){{harvnb|Olson|1970}} but this inclusion has been criticized e.g., by Evans (1988),{{harvnb|Evans|1988}} especially since Olson also included distantly related groups such as protorosaurs and mesosaurs.

New specimens have been discovered in the United States state of Oklahoma,{{harvnb|May|Hall|2002}}{{harvnb|Swanson|Carlson|2002}} but lack a scientific description as of 2023.

The majority of phylogenetic studies recover araeoscelidians as the most basal group of diapsids; however, Simões et al. (2022) recover them as stem-amniotes instead, as the sister group to the clade including Captorhinidae and Protorothyris archeri.{{Cite journal |last1=Simões |first1=T. R. |last2=Kammerer |first2=C. F. |last3=Caldwell |first3=M. W. |last4=Pierce |first4=S. E. |title=Successive climate crises in the deep past drove the early evolution and radiation of reptiles |year=2022 |journal=Science Advances |volume=8 |issue=33 |pages=eabq1898 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abq1898 |pmid=35984885 |pmc=9390993 |doi-access=free }}

Araeoscelidia are known from the Late Carboniferous in the United States (Petrolacosaurus, Spinoaequalis) to the Early Permian in France (Aphelosaurus), Germany (Kadaliosaurus) and the United States (Dictybolos, Zarcasaurus, Araeoscelis, Halgaitosaurus{{Cite journal |last=Henrici |first=Amy C. |last2=Berman |first2=David S |last3=Sumida |first3=Stuart S. |last4=Huttenlocker |first4=Adam K. |date=2023-11-15 |title=Halgaitosaurus gregarius, a New Upper Carboniferous Araeoscelidian (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Halgaito Formation, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, USA |url=https://bioone.org/journals/annals-of-carnegie-museum/volume-88/issue-3/007.088.0301/Halgaitosaurus-gregarius-a-New-Upper-Carboniferous-Araeoscelidian-Reptilia--Diapsida/10.2992/007.088.0301.full |journal=Annals of Carnegie Museum |volume=88 |issue=3 |doi=10.2992/007.088.0301 |issn=0097-4463}}). Apart from araeoscelidans, only one other diapsid is known before the Late Permian: Orovenator from the Early Permian of Oklahoma.{{harvnb|Reisz|Modesto|Scott|2011}}

{{Reflist}}

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• {{cite book |last=Gervais |first=P. |author-link=Paul Gervais |year=1859 |title=Zoologie et paléontologie française |edition=2nd |publisher=Bertrand |location=Paris }}
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• {{cite journal |last1=May |first1=W. J. |last2=Hall |first2=J. D. |name-list-style=amp |year=2002 |title=Geology and vertebrate fauna of a new site in the Wellington Formation (Lower Permian) of Northern Oklahoma |journal=Oklahoma Geology Notes |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=63–66 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Olson |first=E. C. |year=1970 |title=New and little known genera and species of vertebrates from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma |journal=Fieldiana: Geology |volume=18 |pages=359–434 }}
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• {{cite journal |last1=Swanson |first1=B. A. |last2=Carlson |first2=K. J. |name-list-style=amp |year=2002 |title=Walk, Wade, or Swim? Vertebrate Traces on an Early Permian Lakeshore |journal=PALAIOS |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=123–133 |doi=10.1669/0883-1351(2002)017<0123:WWOSVT>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=2002Palai..17..123S |s2cid=130593903 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/14748/files/PAL_E1875.pdf }}
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{{Early tetrapods|A.}}

{{Sauropsida|E.}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q136663}}

Category:Pennsylvanian first appearances

Category:Cisuralian extinctions

Category:Taxa named by Samuel Wendell Williston