Topic summary
Anapsida
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Anapsid.
Anapsida in modern taxonomy
Anapsida is still sporadically recognized as a valid group, but is not favoured by current workers. Anapsids in the traditional meaning of the word are not a clade, but rather a paraphyletic group composed of all the early reptiles retaining the primitive skull morphology, grouped together by the absence of temporal openings. Gauthier, Kluge & Rowe (1988) attempted to redefine 'Anapsida' so it would be monophyletic, defining it as the clade containing "extant turtles and all other extinct taxa that are more closely related to them than they are to other reptiles".