Araeoscelis

{{Short description|Extinct genus of tetrapods}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Artinskian {{fossil range|284.4|275.6}}

| image = Araeoscelis casei.jpg

| image_caption = Fossil at Yale Peabody Museum

| taxon = Araeoscelis

| authority = Williston 1910

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = * {{extinct}}A. casei {{small|(Broom 1913)}}

• {{extinct}}A. gracilis {{small|Williston 1910}}

| type_species = Araeoscelis gracilis

| type_species_authority = Williston 1910

| synonyms = * Ophiodeirus {{small|Broom 1913}}

}}

Araeoscelis (from {{langx|el|αραιά}} {{transl|el|araiá}}, 'thin' and {{langx|el|σκελίς}} {{transl|el|skelís}}, 'ribs of beef'){{cite book |last1=Colbert |first1=Edwin H. (Edwin Harris) |last2=Knight |first2=Charles Robert |title=The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives |date=1951 |publisher=New York : Published for the American Museum of Natural History by McGraw-Hill |page=145 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookruli00colb |access-date=17 December 2022}} is an extinct genus of tetrapods from the Early Permian of what is now Texas. Fossils have been found in the Nocona, Arroyo and Waggoner Ranch Formations. Two species have been described, A. casei and A. gracilis.{{cite book |last1=Dixon |first1=Dougal |title=The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs |date=2015 |publisher=Hermes House |location=London}}

Araeoscelis belonged to the clade Araeoscelidia together with close relatives such as Petrolacosaurus. Araeoscelidia is often considered the most basal group of diapsid reptiles, but some analyses have recovered them as stem-amniotes instead.{{Cite journal |last1=Simões |first1=Tiago R. |last2=Kammerer |first2=Christian F. |last3=Caldwell |first3=Michael W. |last4=Pierce |first4=Stephanie E. |date=2022-08-19 |title=Successive climate crises in the deep past drove the early evolution and radiation of reptiles |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=8 |issue=33 |pages=eabq1898 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abq1898 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=9390993 |pmid=35984885|bibcode=2022SciA....8.1898S }}{{cite journal |last1=Klembara |first1=J. |last2=Ruta |first2=M. |last3=Anderson |first3=J. |last4=Mayer |first4=T. |last5=Hain |first5=M. |last6=Valaška |first6=D. |title=A review of Coelostegus prothales Carroll and Baird, 1972 from the Upper Carboniferous of the Czech Republic and the interrelationships of basal eureptiles |journal=PLOS ONE |date=2023 |volume=18 |issue=9 |pages=e0291687 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0291687|doi-access=free |bibcode=2023PLoSO..1891687K |pmc=10513281 }}