Prolacertiformes

Taxobox
name = Prolacertiformes
fossil_range = Permian-Triassic

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Macrocnemus", a protorosaur from Europe
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
subclassis = Diapsida
infraclassis = Archosauromorpha
ordo = Prolacertiformes
ordo_authority = Camp, 1945
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =
Protorosauridae
Prolacertidae
Sharovipterygidae
Tanystrophidae

Prolacertiformes (sometimes called protorosaurs) were an order of archosauromorph reptiles that lived during the Permian and Triassic Periods. Many species seem to have been adapted for an arboreal lifestyle, including the "delta-winged glider" "Sharovipteryx", while others, such as "Tanystropheus", had extremely long, stiffened necks (possibly used to catch fish), and may have been at least partly aquatic.

Other enigmatic reptile groups have sometimes been assigned by some resarches to the Prolacertiformes, including the drepanosaurids, "Longisquama", and the pterosaurs. Senter (2004) re-assigned the bizarre, arboreal drepanosaurids and "Longisquama" to a group of more primitive diapsids called Avicephala, though some researchers still place these forms among the prolacertiformes.

Classification

* Order Prolacertiformes
**"Gwyneddosaurus"
** Family Protorosauridae
*** "Protorosaurus"
** Family Prolacertidae
*** "Kadimakara"
*** "Pamelaria"
*** "Prolacerta"
** "Jesairosaurus"
** "Malerisaurus"
** "Macrocnemus"
** "Langobardisaurus"
** "Boreopricea"
** "Cosesaurus"
** Family Sharovipterygidae
*** "Sharovipteryx"
** Family Tanystrophidae
*** "Tanytrachelos"
*** "Tanystropheus"
*** "Dinocephalosaurus"

References

* Senter, P. (2004). "Phylogeny of Drepanosauridae (Reptilia: Diapsida)." "Journal of Systematic Palaeontology" 2 (3): 257-268.