Biology:Cryptovaranoides

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Short description: Extinct genus of reptiles

Cryptovaranoides
Temporal range: 202 Ma
Late Triassic (Rhaetian)
Cryptovaranoides.jpg
Reconstruction of skull (top) and life restoration (bottom)
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Genus: Cryptovaranoides
Whiteside, Chambi-Trowell & Benton, 2022
Species:
C. microlanius
Binomial name
Cryptovaranoides microlanius
Whiteside, Chambi-Trowell & Benton, 2022

Cryptovaranoides ("hidden lizard-like animal") is an extinct genus of reptile from the Late Triassic Magnesian Conglomerate of England . It contains a single species, Cryptovaranoides microlanius.[1]

Discovery and naming

It is represented by a holotype partial skeleton as well as referred isolated bones from Rhaetian-aged fissure fill-deposits in Slickstones Quarry, near Tortworth, Gloucestershire preserved alongside the common fossil rhynchocephalian Clevosaurus. The type specimen had been collected in 1953, but was only described as a distinct taxon in 2022.[1]

Classification

When first described, Cryptovaranoides was interpreted as a crown group squamate belonging to the clade Anguimorpha, based on features of the skull architecture, braincase, dentition and postcranium. Since fossils of crown-squamates otherwise are known only from the Middle Jurassic onwards, Cryptovaranoides would push back the estimated origin of modern squamates by 35 million years, implying that the radiation of modern squamate lineages occurred much earlier than previously assumed.[1][2][3] A 2023 study by Brownstein and colleagues reanalysed the type material, and rejected the hypothesis that Cryptovaranoides was a crown-squamate. In their unconstrained phylogenetic analysis, Cryptovaranoides was instead placed within Archosauromorpha as a relative of Allokotosauria. Even when Cryptovaranoides was constrained as a member of Squamata, it was recovered well outside the crown group.[4]

References

Wikidata ☰ {{{from}}} entry