Temporal range: Late Carboniferous - Middle Permian, 309–260 Ma
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Fossil skeleton of Varanops brevirostris in the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Amniota
Family:
†Varanopidae Romer and Price, 1940
Genera
See below
Varanopidae is an extinct family of amniotes that resembled monitor lizards and may have filled a similar niche, hence the name. Typically, they are considered synapsids that evolved from an Archaeothyris-like synapsid in the Late Carboniferous. However, some recent studies have recovered them being taxonomically closer to diapsid reptiles.[1][2][3] A varanopid from the latest Middle Permian Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone is the youngest known varanopid and the last member of the "pelycosaur" group of synapsids.[4]
^Ford, David P.; Benson, Roger B. J. (2018). "A redescription of Orovenator mayorum (Sauropsida, Diapsida) using high‐resolution μCT, and the consequences for early amniote phylogeny". Papers in Palaeontology. 5 (2): 197–239. doi:10.1002/spp2.1236. S2CID 92485505.
^Modesto, Sean P. (January 2020). "Rooting about reptile relationships". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (1): 10–11. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1074-0. ISSN 2397-334X. PMID 31900449. S2CID 209672518.
^MacDougall, Mark J.; Modesto, Sean P.; Brocklehurst, Neil; Verrière, Antoine; Reisz, Robert R.; Fröbisch, Jörg (2018). "Commentary: A Reassessment of the Taxonomic Position of Mesosaurs, and a Surprising Phylogeny of Early Amniotes". Frontiers in Earth Science. 6. doi:10.3389/feart.2018.00099. ISSN 2296-6463.
^Modesto, S.P.; Smith, R.M.H.; Campione, N.E.; Reisz, R.R. (2011). "The last "pelycosaur": a varanopid synapsid from the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone, Middle Permian of South Africa". Naturwissenschaften. 98 (12): 1027–1034. Bibcode:2011NW.....98.1027M. doi:10.1007/s00114-011-0856-2. PMID 22009069. S2CID 27865550.
Varanopidae is an extinct family of amniotes that resembled monitor lizards and may have filled a similar niche, hence the name. Typically, they are considered...
placed the family Varanopidae with Caseasauria as the most basal offshoot of the synapsid lineage. Reisz (1986) removed Varanopidae from Caseasauria,...
suggested that they belong to the parareptiles. The clades Recumbirostra and Varanopidae, traditionally thought to be lepospondyls and synapsids respectively...
used instead. Some recent studies suggested that one of its subgroups, Varanopidae, are really nested within sauropsids, leaving the other defined subgroup...
Caseasauria Family Eothyrididae Family Caseidae Suborder Eupelycosauria Family Varanopidae Family Ophiacodontidae Family Edaphosauridae Infraorder Sphenacodontia...
dinosaurs that came much later. Varanops is the type genus of the family Varanopidae. Cladistic analysis performed by Nicolás E. Campione and Robert R. Reisz...
"The phylogeny of early amniotes and the affinities of Parareptilia and Varanopidae". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (1): 57–65. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1047-3...
Anningia is an extinct genus in Varanopidae, a family of monitor lizard-like amniotes. It contains a single species, Anningia megalops. The species was...
"The phylogeny of early amniotes and the affinities of Parareptilia and Varanopidae". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (1): 57–65. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1047-3...
meaning “lizard”) is an extinct genus of amniotes belonging to the family Varanopidae. It is classified in the varanopid subfamily Mycterosaurinae. Mycterosaurus...
The Abrahamskraal Formation is a geological formation and is found in numerous localities in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, and the Eastern Cape of South...
Varanodon is an extinct genus of amniotes from the family Varanopidae. It has been found in the Chickasha Formation of Oklahoma, which dates to the Roadian...
Aerosaurus (meaning "copper lizard") is an extinct genus within Varanopidae, a family of non-mammalian synapsids. It lived between 252-299 million years...
Araeoscelidia Family Petrolacosauridae Class Synapsida Order Pelycosauria Family Varanopidae Family Ophiacodontidae Family Edaphosauridae Family Sphenacodontidae...
"The phylogeny of early amniotes and the affinities of Parareptilia and Varanopidae". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (1): 57–65. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1047-3...
Eotitanosuchia by Carroll. Reisz and collaborators assigned the genus in Varanopidae. Based on comparisons of its vertebrae with other varanopids, it was...
Volker; Rößler, Ronny (2018). "First arboreal 'pelycosaurs' (Synapsida: Varanopidae) from the early Permian Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte, SE Germany, with...
extinct species of basal synapsids, known as pelycosaurs, in the family of Varanopidae during the middle Permian. At first H. scholtzi was mistakenly classified...
"The phylogeny of early amniotes and the affinities of Parareptilia and Varanopidae". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (1): 57–65. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1047-3...
Synapsida Order Pelycosauria Family Eothyrididae Family Caseidae Family Varanopidae Family Ophiacodontidae Family Edaphosauridae Family Sphenacodontidae...
Mesenosaurus is an extinct genus of amniote. It belongs to the family Varanopidae. This genus includes two species: the type species Mesenosaurus romeri...
only two families: Watongiidae and Gorgonopidae. Watongia was moved to Varanopidae in 2004. She split Gorgonopidae into three subfamilies—Gorgonopsinae...
also represent one of only two basal synapsid groups (along with the Varanopidae) to survive in therapsid-dominated terrestrial communities. Thus, the...
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