Saurians Fossil range: Permian - Recent
Tuatara
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida/Reptilia
Subclass:	Diapsida
(unranked):	Sauria Gauthier, 1984
Subgroups
Lepidosauromorpha Archosauromorpha

Sauria is a clade of reptiles that includes all living diapsids, as well as their common ancestor and all its extinct descendants. The ancestral saurian was probably a small lizard-like creature living in the Permian Period. This crown group is diagnosed by a number of details in skull and skeleton, and comprises the two important clades Lepidosauromorpha and Archosauromorpha.

The term "Sauria" has previously been used as a synonym of Lacertilia, a suborder of Squamata that includes all lizards but excludes snakes. This classification is rarely used today because Sauria so-defined is a paraphyletic group.

[edit] References

• Callaway, J.M. (1997), Ichthyosauria: Introduction, in JM Callaway & EL Nicholls (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles. Academic Press, pp. 3-16.

[edit] External links

• Sauria cladogram

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