Ankylopoda was a proposed
clade that hypothetically contains
turtles and
lepidosaurs (tuatara, lizards and snakes) and their fossil relatives. This clade was historically supported based on microRNA analysis[1] as well as some
cladistic analyses.[2] However, it was strongly contradicted by molecular evidence which supports
Archelosauria (the grouping of turtles and
archosaurs),[3] and other recent cladistic analyses have supported Archelosauria over Ankylopoda.[4]
Classification
The cladogram below follows the most likely result found by another analysis of turtle relationships, this one using only fossil evidence, published by Rainer Schoch and Hans-Dieter Sues in 2015. This study found Eunotosaurus to be an actual early stem-turtle, though other versions of the analysis found weak support for it as a
parareptile.[5]
^Schoch, R. R.; Sues, H.-D. (2015). "A Middle Triassic stem-turtle and the evolution of the turtle body plan". Nature. 523 (7562): 584–7.
doi:
10.1038/nature14472.
PMID26106865.