Diapsidan

/daɪˈæpsɪdən/ noun

Definition

Any member of the group Diapsida; a vertebrate possessing the characteristic two-fenestrate temporal skull structure typical of diapsids.

Etymology

From 'diapsida' + '-an' (noun suffix indicating membership). Used in paleontology and herpetology to refer to any individual organism within the diapsid clade.

Kelly Says

You are literally a diapsidan cousin—birds are diapsidans, and you share more recent ancestry with a chicken than that chicken shares with a lizard, blowing up traditional 'reptile' categories!

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