CLASSIFICATION OF CLASS REPTILIA

There are around 7000 species of reptiles

grouped under approximately 16 orders .
Amongst which 4 orders include living
forms and the rest are extinct.

Class Reptilia is divided into 4 sub classes.

Sub class I -Anapsida:
1.The roof of the skull of Reptiles is solid,
temporal fossa is absent .
2. Limbs are strong.
3. Carapace and plastron form the body
covering.
4.No teeth; use horny jaws used to rip food

Subclass I : Anapsida is divided into two

orders.
1. Cotylosauria 2. Chelonia.
Order 1: Cotylosauria Example -Seymouria
These are primitive extinct reptiles,includes
the stem reptiles ancestors of all of the
more advanced reptiles.They were heavybodied, splay-limbed, plant-eating reptiles
that existed during the Carboniferous Period.
(359-299 million years ago)

Order 2 : Chelonia
The first order of living reptiles comprising
the Tortoises and Turtles.
They are distinguished by the following
characters: - There is an osseous exoskeleton
which is combined with the endoskeleton to
form a bony case in which the body of the
animal is enclosed, and which is covered by a
leathery skin, or by horny epidermal plates.

Sub class II : Parapsida

This group includes extinct forms. These forms
lived from Triassic period(248 to 206 Million Years
Ago)to Cretaceous period (144 to 65 million years
ago).
Their skull shows one pair of supra temporal
fossae .
Example: Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus.

Sub class III : Diapsida

Diapsids are a group of reptiles that
developed two temporal fossae on each side
of their skulls during the late Carboniferous
period (300 million years ago).They include
both extinct and living forms.

The diapsids are extremely diverse, and include all

crocodiles, lizards, snakes, sphenodon and non-avian
dinosaurs.
Sub class Diapsida includes two super orders
1.Super order Lepidosauria and 2.Super order Archosauria
1.Super order : Lepidosauria includes 3 orders :1. Eosuchia (Extinct)
2.Rhynchocephalia (Extinct except Sphenodon)
3.Squamata divided into 2 sub orders

Order Squamata is divided into two Sub-orders

1.Sub order : Lacertilia includes all lizards.

2.Sub order : Ophidia includes all snakes

Super order : Archosauria includes 5 orders .

4 orders extinct ,1 living order Crocodilia
includes crocodiles ,alligators and gharial .

Alligators

Crocodiles

Sub class IV : Synapsida

These are referred to as mammal like reptiles because
some have a superficial mammal-like appearance.
They firstemergedinthelatePermianPeriod (299-251
million years ago),characterised by a single lateral
temporal fossaoneachsideoftheskull

Dimetrodon

Cynognathus

Outline

Credits :Wikipedia
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