Similarly, a morphological study conducted by Lyson et al . ( 2010 ) recovered them as anapsids most closely related to " Eunotosaurus ".
12.
The lack of Sharpey's fibers on the anterior side of the ribs of " Eunotosaurus " suggests that it lacked functional intercostal muscles.
13.
This study claimed that " Eunotosaurus " shared derived features of its ribs and vertebrae with the earliest turtles, thus making it a transitional form.
14.
However, analysis of the transitional fossil, " Eunotosaurus africanus " shows that early ancestors of turtles lost that intercostal muscle usually found between the ribs.
15.
Over a century after its naming, " Eunotosaurus " was known from less than a dozen specimens, with very little material known from the skull.
16.
A 2008 phylogenetic analysis of parareptiles found " Eunotosaurus " to be the sister taxon of " Milleretta " and thus within the family Millerettidae.
17.
Since " Eunotosaurus " possesses both turtle-like and parareptile-like features, it has often been used to justify a parareptilian ancestry for turtles.
18.
The Middle Permian reptile " Eunotosaurus " from South Africa was seen as the " missing link " between cotylosaurs and chelonians throughout much of the early 20th century.
19.
The clade consisting of " Eunotosaurus " and turtles was called Pan-Testudines ( defined as all animals more closely related to turtles than to any other living group ).
20.
In his 1956 book " Osteology of the Reptiles ", American paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer claimed that " Eunotosaurus " could not be included within Chelonia based on the available evidence.
