Anapsida (Noun)
Meaning
Oldest known reptiles; turtles and extinct Permian forms.
Classification
Nouns denoting animals.
Examples
- Anapsida is an obsolete term for one of the two main groups of reptiles, the other being Synapsida.
- Anapsida includes some of the oldest known reptiles which date back to the Middle to Late Permian, like turtles and extinct forms such as the Millerettidae.
- As the most primitive reptiles, early Anapsida lived primarily during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.
- Most of the early members of Anapsida that lived in the Permian were generally small in size, which distinguished them from the already existing vertebrates.
- Researchers believed that true turtles belonged to the group Anapsida because they share many similarities in their skulls and skeleton.