Skeleton of Sphenofontis, a sphenodontine from the Late Jurassic of Germany
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
Rhynchocephalia
Suborder:
Sphenodontia
Family:
Sphenodontidae Cope, 1870 (conserved name)
Type species
Hatteria punctata
Gray, 1842
Subgroups
†Eilenodontinae?
†Opisthias?
†Trullidens?
†Ankylosphenodon?[1]
†Derasmosaurus?
†Pamizinsaurus
†Zapatadon
†Sphenovipera
†Alamitosphenos
†Notosphenos
Sphenodontinae
†Cynosphenodon
†Tika
†Sphenofontis
†Navajosphenodon
†Kawasphenodon
Sphenodon
Synonyms
Hatteriidae Cope, 1864 (rejected name)
Rhynchocephalidae Hoffmann, 1881 (rejected name)
Skeleton of Navajosphenodon from the Early Jurassic of North America, one of the oldest sphenodontines.
Illustration of the skull of Navajosphenodon in lateral view, showing closed temporal bar (bottom right)
Sphenodontidae is a family within the reptile group Rhynchocephalia, comprising taxa most closely related to the living tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus). Historically the taxa included within Sphenodontidae have varied greatly between analyses, and the group has lacked a formal definition.[2]Cynosphenodon from the Jurassic of Mexico has consistently been recovered as a close relative of the tuatara in most analyses, with the clade containing the two and other very close relatives of the tuatara often called Sphenodontinae.[2] The herbivorous Eilenodontinae, otherwise considered part of Opisthodontia, is considered to be part of this family in many recent studies as the sister group to Sphenodontinae. The earliest Sphenodontines are known from the Early Jurassic of North America, with other remains known from the Late Jurassic of Europe, the Late Cretaceous and possibly Paleocene of South America and the Miocene-recent of New Zealand. Sphenodontines are characterised by a complete lower temporal bar caused by the fusion of a forward directed process (extension) of the quadrate/quadratojugal and the jugal, which was an adaptation for reducing stress in the skull during hard biting. Other synapomorphies of Sphenodontinae include the presence of nasal foramina, a posterodorsal process of the coronoid of the lower jaw, the present of caniniform successional teeth at the front of the jaws, the presence of flanges on the posterior parts of teeth at back of the lower jaw, and an expanded radial condyle on the humerus.[3] Like modern tuatara, members of Sphenodontinae were likely generalists with a carnivorous/insectivorous diet.[4]
Cladogram after Simoes et al. 2022:[3]
Sphenodontia
†Diphydontosaurus
Eusphenodontia
†Planocephalosaurus
†Clevosaurus
Neosphenodontia
†Homoeosaurus
Pleurosauridae
†Palaeopleurosaurus
†Derasmosaurus
†Pleurosaurus
†Leptosaurus
†Kallimodon
Sapheosauridae
†Piocormus
†Oenosaurus
†Sapheosaurus
Sphenodontidae
Eilenodontinae
†Sphenotitan
†Eilenodon
†Toxolophosaurus
†Priosphenodon
Sphenodontinae
†Navajosphenodon
†Cynosphenodon
†Sphenofontis
†Kawasphenodon
Sphenodon (tuatara)
^Apesteguia RO, Rougier GW (2012). "A basal sphenodontian (Lepidosauria) from the Jurassic of Patagonia: new insights on the phylogeny and biogeography of Gondwanan rhynchocephalians". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (2): 342–360. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00837.x. hdl:20.500.12110/paper_00244082_v166_n2_p342_Apesteguia. [R. Benson/R. Benson]
^ abSimões TR, Caldwell MW, Pierce SE (December 2020). "Sphenodontian phylogeny and the impact of model choice in Bayesian morphological clock estimates of divergence times and evolutionary rates". BMC Biology. 18 (1): 191. doi:10.1186/s12915-020-00901-5. PMC 7720557. PMID 33287835.
^ abSimões, Tiago R.; Kinney-Broderick, Grace; Pierce, Stephanie E. (2022-03-03). "An exceptionally preserved Sphenodon-like sphenodontian reveals deep time conservation of the tuatara skeleton and ontogeny". Communications Biology. 5 (1): 195. doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03144-y. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 8894340. PMID 35241764.
^Villa, Andrea; Montie, Roel; Röper, Martin; Rothgaenger, Monika; Rauhut, Oliver W. M. (2021-05-03). "Sphenofontis velserae gen. et sp. nov., a new rhynchocephalian from the Late Jurassic of Brunn (Solnhofen Archipelago, southern Germany)". PeerJ. 9: e11363. doi:10.7717/peerj.11363. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 8101455. PMID 33987027.
Sphenodontidae is a family within the reptile group Rhynchocephalia, comprising taxa most closely related to the living tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)....
the scope of the clade to be identical to Eilenodontinae. The family Sphenodontidae has been used to include the tuatara and its closest relatives within...
Madagascan big-headed turtles and American sideneck river turtles Family Sphenodontidae Family Agamidae – agamas Family Chamaeleonidae – chameleons Family Iguanidae...
1007/978-3-642-65495-4_4. ISBN 9783642654978. Uetz, Peter (2003-10-07). "Sphenodontidae". The EMBL reptile database. European Molecular Biology Laboratory,...
Sphenodontia. They are either considered a subgroup of Opisthodontia, or Sphenodontidae. They had deep jaws with broad, closely packed teeth with thick enamel...
this decision. In 1981, Toxolophosaurus was reassigned to the family Sphenodontidae, on the basis that the specimens were more similar to Sphenodon than...
their position within Sphenodontidae, as a taxonomic family cannot be within another family. Sources which use Sphenodontidae as a wide group of sphenodontians...
Zealand. In the original description, it was found to be a member of Sphenodontidae, in some other subsequent analyses it was found to be a member of Opisthodontia...
Kaikaifilusaurus is an extinct genus of rhynchocephalians in the family Sphenodontidae from the Late Cretaceous of South America. Fossils of the genus were...
Sapheosauridae, although in some analyses this group belongs to the family Sphenodontidae (which also contains the tuatara, the only living rhynchocephalian)...
Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Rhynchocephalia Family: Sphenodontidae Genus: †Sphenofontis Villa et al. 2021 Type species Sphenofontis velserae...
(alligators and caimans) Family Crocodylidae (true crocodiles) Family Sphenodontidae (one species: tuatara) Family Amphisbaenidae (tropical worm lizards)...
Carballido, Jose L. (March 2014). "A new eilenodontine (Lepidosauria, Sphenodontidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of central Patagonia". Journal of Vertebrate...
polytomy with the genus Opisthias and this subfamilies, within the family Sphenodontidae. This inclusion is supported by have the great length of the supratemporal...
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