Sauria

Taxobox
name = Saurians
fossil_range = Permian - Recent

---

image_width = 200px
image_caption = Tuatara
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida/Reptilia
subclassis = Diapsida
unranked_ordo = Sauria
unranked_ordo_authority = Gauthier, 1984
subdivision_ranks = Subgroups
subdivision =
* Lepidosauromorpha
* Archosauromorpha

Sauria is a clade of reptiles that includes all living diapsids, as well as their common ancestor and all its extinct descendants. The ancestral saurian was probably a small lizard-like creature living in the Permian Period. This crown group is diagnosed by a number of details in skull and skeleton, and comprises the two important clades Lepidosauromorpha and Archosauromorpha.

The term "Sauria" has previously been used as a synonym of Lacertilia, a suborder of Squamata that includes all lizards but excludes snakes. This classification is rarely used today because as Sauria so-defined is a paraphyletic group.

References

* Callaway, J.M. (1997), Ichthyosauria: Introduction, in JM Callaway & EL Nicholls (eds.), "Ancient Marine Reptiles". Academic Press, pp. 3-16.

External links

* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Reptilia/Sauria_1.htm Sauria] cladogram