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Temporal fenestrae are commonly (although not universally) seen in the fossilized skulls of dinosaurs and other sauropsids (the total group of reptiles, including birds). [1] The major reptile group Diapsida , for example, is defined by the presence of two temporal fenestrae on each side of the skull.
Unlike turtles, Pappochelys has teeth in its jaws and two pairs of holes in the back of the skull called temporal fenestrae. The presence of two pairs of fenestrae make the skull of Pappochelys diapsid, as opposed to the anapsid skulls of turtles that lack any temporal fenestrae. [1] [3]
Testudines (Turtles, tortoises & terrapins) An anapsid is an amniote whose skull lacks one or more skull openings (fenestra, or fossae) near the temples . [ 1 ] Traditionally, the Anapsida are considered the most primitive subclass of amniotes, the ancestral stock from which Synapsida and Diapsida evolved, making anapsids paraphyletic .
Although some diapsids have lost either one hole (lizards), or both holes (snakes and turtles), or have a heavily restructured skull (modern birds), they are still classified as diapsids based on their ancestry. At least 17,084 species of diapsid animals are extant: 9,159 birds, [3] and 7,925 snakes, lizards, tuatara, turtles, and crocodiles. [4]
It is now commonly believed that euryapsids (particularly sauropterygians) are in fact diapsids (which have two fenestrae behind the orbit) that lost the lower temporal fenestra. Euryapsids are usually considered entirely extinct, although turtles might be part of the sauropterygian clade [1] while other authors disagree. [2]
Many were classified as 'cotylosaurs' (a wastebasket taxon of stout-bodied 'primitive' reptiles or reptile-like tetrapods) or 'anapsids' (reptiles without temporal fenestrae, such as modern turtles). Parareptilia's usage was revived by cladistic studies, to refer to those traditional 'anapsids' that were thought to be unrelated to turtles.
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An antorbital fenestra (plural: fenestrae) is an opening in the skull that is in front of the eye sockets. This skull character is largely associated with archosauriforms, first appearing during the Triassic Period. Among extant archosaurs, birds still possess antorbital fenestrae, whereas crocodylians have lost them. The loss in crocodylians ...