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Euryapsida

 
Euryapsida

 
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Euryapsida
 
 
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Euryapsida is a polyphyletic (unnatural, as the various members are not closely related) group of reptile
Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s that are distinguished by a single temporal fenestra, an opening behind the orbit
Orbit (anatomy)

In anatomy, the orbital bone is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its adnexa are situated.It can also mean the skin which surrounds the eye of a bird....
, under which the post-orbital and squamosal bones articulate. They are different from Synapsida, which also have a single opening behind the orbit, by the placement of the fenestra. In synapsids, this opening is below the articulation of the post-orbital and squamosal bones.






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Euryapsida is a polyphyletic (unnatural, as the various members are not closely related) group of reptile
Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s that are distinguished by a single temporal fenestra, an opening behind the orbit
Orbit (anatomy)

In anatomy, the orbital bone is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its adnexa are situated.It can also mean the skin which surrounds the eye of a bird....
, under which the post-orbital and squamosal bones articulate. They are different from Synapsida, which also have a single opening behind the orbit, by the placement of the fenestra. In synapsids, this opening is below the articulation of the post-orbital and squamosal bones. It is now commonly believed that euryapsids are in fact diapsid
Diapsid

Diapsids are a group of reptiles that developed two holes in each side of their skulls, about 300 million years ago during the late Carboniferous period....
s (which have two fenestrae behind the orbit) that lost the lower temporal fenestra.

Ichthyosaur Drawing
Examples are:
  • Plesiosaur
    Plesiosaur

    Plesiosaurs were carnivore aquatic reptiles. After their discovery, they were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled , although they had no shell....
    s
  • Ichthyosaur
    Ichthyosaur

    Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins. Ichthyosaurs thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared approximately 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago, about 25 million years before the dinosaurs became extinct....
    s
  • Placodont
    Placodont

    Placodonts were a group of marine reptiles that lived during the Triassic period, becoming extinct at the end of the period. It is believed that they were related to the Sauropterygia, the group that includes Plesiosaurs....
    s


See also

  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
  • Synapsida