Brachyrhinodon is an extinct genus of sphenodontian from the Triassic of Scotland .

 Sphenodontia is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living genus, the tuatara (Sphenodon), and only two living species. Despite its current lack of diversity, the Sphenodontia at one time included a wide array of genera in several families, and represents a lineage stretching back to the Mesozoic Era.

 Sphenodonts, and their sister group Squamata (which includes lizards, snakes and amphisbaenians), belong to the superorder Lepidosauria, the only surviving taxon within Lepidosauromorpha. Squamates and sphenodonts both show caudal autotomy (loss of the tail-tip when threatened), and have transverse cloacal slits. The origin of the sphenodonts probably lies close to the split between the Lepidosauromorpha and the Archosauromorpha. Though they resemble lizards, the similarity is superficial, because the group has several characteristics unique among reptiles. The typical lizard shape is very common for the early amniotes; the oldest known fossil of a reptile, the Hylonomus, resembles a modern lizard.

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Tags: Вымершие рептилии, Триас, диапсиды, клювоголовые, лепидозавроморфы, лепидозавры

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