Archelosauria

Archelosauria
Proganochelys quenstedti
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Sauria
Clade:	Archelosauria Crawford et al., 2014
Extant Subclades
Testudines Archosauria

Archelosauria is a clade proposed in 2014^[1] for the grouping of turtles and archosaurs (birds and crocodilians) and their fossil relatives. There were about 1000 ultra-conserved elements in their genome that are unique to turtles and archosaurs, but are not found in lepidosaurs (tuatara, lizards and snakes).^[2] Other genome-wide analysis also supports this grouping.^[3][4]

Classification

Archelosauria is a group used to unite archosaurs with turtles. It was found that Archelosauria was grouped within Sauria, as the sister branch to lizards and Sphenodon. Below is the phylogeny from Crawford et al., showing interrelationships of Testudines at family level down to Durocryptodira.^[1]

Sauria	Lepidosauria Sphenodon Squamata Anolis Python Archelosauria Archosauria Aves Crocodylus Testudines Pleurodira Chelidae Pelomedusoides Pelomedusidae Podocnemididae Cryptodira Trionychia Carettochelys Trionychidae Durocryptodira

See also

Ankylopoda, an alternative clade that places turtles as sister taxon to lepidosaurs.

References

1. Crawford, Nicholas G., et al. "A phylogenomic analysis of turtles." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution (2014).
2. Crawford, Nicholas G., et al. "More than 1000 ultraconserved elements provide evidence that turtles are the sister group of archosaurs." Biology letters 8.5 (2012): 783-786.
3. Wang, Zhuo (27 March 2013). "The draft genomes of soft-shell turtle and green sea turtle yield insights into the development and evolution of the turtle-specific body plan". Nature Genetics. 45 (701–706): 701–6. doi:10.1038/ng.2615. PMC 4000948. PMID 23624526. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
4. Field, Daniel J.; Gauthier, Jacques A.; King, Benjamin L.; Pisani, Davide; Lyson, Tyler; Peterson, Kevin J. (July–August 2014). "Toward consilience in reptile phylogeny: miRNAs support an archosaur, not lepidosaur, affinity for turtles" (PDF). Evolution & Development. 16 (4): 189–196. doi:10.1111/ede.12081. PMID 24798503. Retrieved 5 July 2015.