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Sclerosaurus

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Sclerosaurus
Temporal range:Early-Middle Triassic,Olenekian–Anisian
Fossil
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Parareptilia
Order: Procolophonomorpha
Family: Procolophonidae
Tribe: Sclerosaurini
Genus: Sclerosaurus
von Meyer,1857
Type species
Sclerosaurus armatus
von Meyer, 1857
Restoration

Sclerosaurusis anextinctgenusofprocolophonidparareptileknown from theEarlytoMiddle TriassicofGermanyandSwitzerland.It contains asingle species,Sclerosaurus armatus.It was fairly small, about 30 cm long, distinguished from other known parareptiles by the possession of long, backwardly projecting spikes, rear lower jaw teeth with slightly imbricating crowns, and a narrow band of back armor comprising two or three rows of sculpturedosteodermson either side of the midline.[1]

Traditional classifications, e.g. Carroll (1988) placedSclerosauruswith the procolophonids, however somephylogeneticstudies have found it to be a close relative of thepareiasaurs,and together with that group it forms the cladePareiasauroidea.[2]More recent phylogenetic analyses placeSclerosauruswithinProcolophonidaeas originally suggested, and support its referral to theLeptopleuroninae.Sclerosaurusis most closely related toScoloparia glyphanodonfromNova Scotia,Canada,and together they form the Sclerosaurini tribe within Leptopleuroninae.[3][1]

References

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  1. ^abHans-Dieter Sues and Robert R. Reisz (2008). "Anatomy and Phylogenetic Relationships ofSclerosaurus armatus(Amniota: Parareptilia) from the Buntsandstein (Triassic) of Europe ".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.28(4): 1031–1042.doi:10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1031.S2CID53967912.
  2. ^Jalil, N. E., & Janvier, P. (2005). Les pareiasaures (Amniota, Parareptilia) du Permien supérieur du Bassin d’Argana, Maroc. Geodiversitas, 27(1), 35-132.
  3. ^Cisneros, J. C. (2008). "Phylogenetic relationships of procolophonid parareptiles with remarks on their geological record".Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.6(3): 345–366.doi:10.1017/S1477201907002350.S2CID84468714.