Avicephala

Avicephala is an extinct order of bizarre diapsid reptiles that lived during the Late Permian and Triassic periods. Many species had odd specialized grasping limbs and prehensile tails, adapted to arboreal (and possibly aquatic) lifestyles.

Anatomy and Lifestyle

The name "avicephala" means "bird heads", in reference to the distinctive triangular skulls of these reptiles that mimmic the shape of bird skulls. A few avicephalans, such as Hypuronector, even appear to have had pointed, toothless, bird-like beaks. This cranial similarity to birds has led a few scientists to theorize that birds descended from avicephalans like Longisquama, though a majority see the similarity simply as convergence. This similarity may also have led to the possible misidentification of the would-be "first bird", Protoavis. Initially thought to be a Triassic avian, Protoavis is probably a chimeric assemblage of bones from a variety of reptiles, and its bird-like skull and neck vertebrae may belong to an avicephalan.

Avicephalans possessed a variety of odd and distinctive characristics in addition to their bird-like skulls. Some displayed unique dermal apendages, such as the feather-like dorsal plumes of Longisquama, and the laterally-oriented rib-lke rods of Coelurosauravus, which supported membranes and may have been used to glide from branch to branch in an arboreal habitat.

Another avicephalan group, the drepanosaurids, featured a suite of bizarre, almost chameleon-like skeletal features. Above the shoulders of most species was a specialized "hump" formed from fusion of the vertebrae, possibly used for advanced muscle attachments to the neck, and allowing for quick forward-striking movement of the head (perhaps to catch insects). Many had derived hands with two fingers opposed to the remaining three, an adaptation for grasping branches. Some individuals of Megalancosaurus (possibly exclusive to either males or females) had a primate-like opposable toe on each foot, perhaps used by one sex for extra grip during mating. Most species had broad, prehensile tails, sometimes tipped with a large "claw", again to aid in climbing. These tails, tall and flat like those of newts and crocodiles, have led some researches to conclude that they were aquatic rather than arboreal. Senter (2004) dismisses this idea, while Colbert and Olsen (2001), in their description of Hypuronector, state that while other drepanosaurs were probably arboreal, Hypuronector was uniquely adapted to aquatic life. The tail of this genus was extremely deep and non-prehensile – much more fin-like than other drepanosaurs.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic history

The various avicephalan groups have been difficult to pin down in terms of their phylogenetic position. Some of these enigmatic reptiles, specifically the drepanosaurids and Longisquama, have been assigned by some resarches to the prolacertiformes (Renesto 1994). Senter (2004), however, found them to form a group with the coelurosauravids, for which he coined the name Avicephala, as a sister taxon to Neodiapsida (the group which includes all modern diapsids and their extinct relatives).

Within Avicephala, Senter created the group Simiosauria ("monkey lizards") for the extremely derived tree-dwelling forms. Senter found that Hypuronector, originally described as a drepanosaurid, actually lies just outside that family, along with the primitive drepanosaur Vallesaurus. He also recovered a close relationship between the drepanosaurs Dolabrosaurus and Megalancosaurus. Though he did not name this group, Renesto (1994) had already created a family called Megalancosauridae. Since Drepanosauridae was named first, Megalancosauridae had to be abandoned, but under ICZN rules all coordinate family-level taxa are implied by the definition of a family name, so the Subfamily Megalancosaurinae (Renesto, 1994) is available and can be applied to the Dolabrosaurus + Megalancosaurus group.

Classification

Subclass Diapsida

(unranked) AVICEPHALA
- ?Family Protoavidae
  - ?Protoavis (in part)
- Family Longisquamidae
  - Longisquama
- Family Coelurosauravidae
  - Weigeltisaurus
  - Coelurosauravus
- (unranked) Simiosauria
  - Vallesaurus
  - Hypuronector
  - Family Drepanosauridae
    - Drepanosaurus
    - Subfamily Megalancosaurinae
      - Dolabrosaurus
      - Megalancosaurus

Phylogeny

Cladogram after Senter, 2004 ^*.

References

Colbert, E. H. & Olsen, P. E. (2001). "A new and unusual aquatic reptile from the Lockatong Formation of New Jersey (Late Triassic, Newark Supergroup)." American Museum Novitates: #3334, pp. 1-24.
Harris, J. D. & Downs, A. (2002). "A drepanosaurid pectoral girdle from the Ghost Ranch (Whitaker) Coelophysis quarry (Chinle Group, Rock Point Formation, Rhaetian), New Mexico." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 22, #1, pp. 70-75.
Renesto, S. (1994). "Megalancosaurus, a possibly arboreal archosauromorph (Reptilia) from the Upper Triassic of northern Italy." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 14, #1, pp. 38-52.
Senter, P. (2004). "Phylogeny of Drepanosauridae (Reptilia: Diapsida)." Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 2 (3): 257-268.

External links

Monkey Lizards of the Triassic - An illustrated article on drepanosaurs from HMNH.
Prof. Silvio Renesto—Vertebrate Paleontology at Insubria University: Research - Images and discussion of Drepanosaurus.
Prof. Silvio Renesto—Vertebrate Paleontology at Insubria University: Research - Images and discussion of Megalancosaurus.
Gliding Mechanism in the Late Permian Reptile Coelurosauravus (Eberhard Frey, Hans-Dieter Sues, & Wolfgang Munk) - Abstract and available full text of the article in Science.

Avicephalans