Ankylopoda

Ankylopods
Temporal range: Earliest Triassic - Holocene
Proganochelys quenstedti
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Sauria
Clade: Ankylopoda
Lyson et al., 2012
Extant subclades

Ankylopoda was a proposed clade that hypothetically contains turtles and lepidosaurs (tuatara, lizards and snakes) and their fossil relatives. This clade was historically supported based on microRNA analysis as well as some cladistic analyses. However, it was strongly contradicted by molecular evidence which supports Archelosauria (the grouping of turtles and archosaurs), and other recent cladistic analyses have supported Archelosauria over Ankylopoda.