Herrera-Flores, J.A.; Stubbs, T.L.; Benton, M.J.
taxonomy · range · morphology · ecology · methods
Quantitative synthesis of rhynchocephalian diversity, disparity and evolutionary history, explicitly testing the living-fossil characterization of Sphenodon.
Rhynchocephalia is represented as a formerly diverse sampled radiation with Sphenodon as its sole living lineage; quantitative disparity results do not make the tuatara an unchanged ancestor or a proxy for every fossil member.
claim:taxon:rhynchocephaliaThe time-scaled Rhynchocephalia dataset spans Late Triassic fossils to living Sphenodon, supporting a rounded 238 Ma–present study-sample window rather than an exact global FAD or unchanged lineage claim.
claim:taxon:rhynchocephalia:range-boundary