Tseajaia

Tseajaia; Temporal range: Permian
	Tseajaia life reconstruction
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Diadectomorpha
Family:	†Tseajaiidae
Genus:	†Tseajaia; Vaughn, 1964

Tseajaia is an extinct genus of tetrapod. It was a basal diadectomorph that lived in the Permian of North America.^[1] The skeleton is that of a medium-sized, rather advanced reptile-like amphibian. In life it was about 1 metre (3 ft) long and may have looked vaguely like an iguana, though slower and with a more amphibian foot without claws. The dentition was somewhat blunt, indicating herbivory or possibly omnivory.

Classification

Tseajaia was described from a single, fairly complete specimen and was given its own family by Robert L. Carroll. It was originally thought to be a Seymouriamorph.^[2] Additional finds allowing for a better taxonomic analysis indicate they belong in the Diadectomorpha, as the sister group to the large and more derived Diadectidae. Tseajaia itself being a fairly generalized form, gives a reasonable indication of the build and looks of the closest relatives of the amniotes.^[3]^[4]

References

^ Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Other Fossils from Montana to Mongolia by Michael Novacek
^ Moss, J.L. (1972): The morphology and phylogenetic relationships of the Lower Permian tetrapod Tseajaia campi Vaughn (Amphibia: Seymouriamorpha). University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, vol 98, pp 1-72.
^ Kissel, R. (2010). Morphology, Phylogeny, and Evolution of Diadectidae (Cotylosauria: Diadectomorpha). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 185. hdl:1807/24357.
^ Berman, D.S, Sumida, S.S., and Lombard, R.E. (1992): Reinterpretation of the temporal and occipital regions in Diadectes and the relationship of diadectomorphs. Journal of Paleontology no 66: pp 481–499.