Palaeagama

Palaeagama
Temporal range: Late Permian?-Early Triassic?
Life Restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Neodiapsida
Genus: †Palaeagama
Broom, 1926
Type species
†Palaeagama vielhaueri
Broom, 1926

Palaeagama is an extinct genus of neodiapsid reptile from the Late Permian or Early Triassic of South Africa.[1] It is based on an articulated skeleton which was probably found in the Early Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone, or potentially the Late Permian Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone.[2] Despite the completeness of the specimen, Palaeagama is considered as a "wildcard" taxon of uncertain affinities due to poor preservation.[3] It was originally considered an "eosuchian" (ancestral to modern reptiles),[4] and later reinterpreted as a lizard ancestor closely related to Paliguana and Saurosternon.[2] Modern studies generally consider it an indeterminate neodiapsid,[1][3] though a few phylogenetic analyses tentatively support a position at the base of Lepidosauromorpha.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b Ford, David P.; Evans, Susan E.; Choiniere, Jonah N.; Fernandez, Vincent; Benson, Roger B. J. (2021-08-25). "A reassessment of the enigmatic diapsid Paliguana whitei and the early history of Lepidosauromorpha". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1957): 20211084. doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1084. PMC 8385343. PMID 34428965.
  2. ^ a b Carroll, Robert L. (1975). "Permo-Triassic 'lizards' from the Karroo". Palaeontologia Africana. 18: 71–87.
  3. ^ a b Ezcurra, Martín D.; Scheyer, Torsten M.; Butler, Richard J. (2014-02-27). "The Origin and Early Evolution of Sauria: Reassessing the Permian Saurian Fossil Record and the Timing of the Crocodile-Lizard Divergence". PLOS ONE. 9 (2): e89165. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...989165E. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089165. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3937355. PMID 24586565.
  4. ^ Broom, R. (1926). "On a nearly complete Skeleton of a new Eosuchian Reptile (Palæagama veilhaueri, gen. et sp. nov.)". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 96 (2): 487–491. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1926.tb08109.x. ISSN 0370-2774.
  5. ^ Simões, Tiago R.; Caldwell, Michael W.; Tałanda, Mateusz; Bernardi, Massimo; Palci, Alessandro; Vernygora, Oksana; Bernardini, Federico; Mancini, Lucia; Nydam, Randall L. (2018). "The origin of squamates revealed by a Middle Triassic lizard from the Italian Alps". Nature. 557 (7707): 706–709. Bibcode:2018Natur.557..706S. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0093-3. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 29849156. S2CID 44108416.
  6. ^ Sobral, Gabriela; Simões, Tiago R.; Schoch, Rainer R. (2020-02-20). "A tiny new Middle Triassic stem-lepidosauromorph from Germany: implications for the early evolution of lepidosauromorphs and the Vellberg fauna". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 2273. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.2273S. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-58883-x. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7033234. PMID 32080209.