Further Thoughts on the Origin of Chelonia

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

Greetings,

Incidentally, I think that (much as I would like turtles to be surviving
pareiasaurs) they are going to prove to be archosauromorphs. The molecules
really do seem to point that way, particularly as the taxon sampling has
increased (so it isn't just one croc, one bird, one squamate, and one
turtle). At least some of the morphology seems to point towards Euryapsida,
or some component thereof, and the most comprehensive (although not yet
published) phylogenetic analysis of non-archosaurian, non-squamate, diapsids
shows very strongly that euryapsids are basal archosauromorphs, too.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796