Sauria

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Sauria

Sauria is a clade

Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...
of reptiles that includes all living 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, 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

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Roderick Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian system" after the ancient kingdom...
Period. This crown group

Crown group

A crown group is the smallest monophyletic group, or "clade", to contain the last common ancestor of all members, and all of that ancestor's descendants....
is diagnosed by a number of details in skull and skeleton, and comprises the two important clades Lepidosauromorpha

Lepidosauromorpha

Lepidosauromorpha is a group of reptiles comprising all diapsids closer to lizards than to archosaurs . The only living sub-group is the Lepidosauria: extant lizards, snakes, and tuatara....
and Archosauromorpha

Archosauromorpha

Archosauromorpha is an Infraclass of diapsid reptiles that first appeared during the late Permian and became more common during the Triassic. Included in this infraclass are the orders Rhynchosauria, Trilophosauridae, Prolacertiformes, Archosauriformes, and, tentatively, the Choristodera....
.

The term "Sauria" has previously been used as a synonym of Lacertilia, a suborder of Squamata

Squamata

Squamata, or the scaled reptiles, is the largest recent order of reptiles, including lizards and snakes. Members of the order are distinguished by their skins, which bear horny scale or shields....
that includes all lizards but excludes snakes.