diapsid

[ dahy-ap-sid ]

adjective

1. (of reptiles) having two openings in the skull behind each eye, characteristic of the subclasses Lepidosauria and Archosauria, including all living reptiles except turtles.

noun

1. a diapsid reptile.

diapsid

/ dī-ăp′sĭd /

1. Any of various amniotes having a skull with two pairs of temporal openings. Diapsids evolved in the Permian Period and grew longer and better-developed hindlimbs than forelimbs (unlike therapsids). Diapsids evolved into the archosaurs (including the dinosaurs and their descendants the birds) and all modern reptiles except, in some classifications, the turtles.
2. Compare anapsid

Word History and Origins

Origin of diapsid¹

< New Latin Diapsida (1903); di- ¹, anapsid

Example Sentences

Their remains fall into two great groups, which are known as the Diapsid and the Synapsid reptiles.

From Project Gutenberg