2023 In Reptile Paleontology

This list of fossil reptiles described in 2023 is a list of new taxa of fossil reptiles that were described during the year 2023, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to reptile paleontology that occurred in 2023.

Squamates

Squamate research

* Redescription of '' Palaeogekko risgoviensis'' is published by Villa (2023), who confirms the validity of this species as a distinct taxon, and interprets it as a non- eublepharid gekkonoid of uncertain affinities.
* LeBlanc ''et al.'' (2023) report that tooth replacement in extant snakes occurs by resorption of dentine by odontoclasts from within the pulp of the tooth, and that this mechanism was already present in ''Yurlunggur'' and '' Portugalophis''.
* Shi ''et al.'' (2023) describe an assemblage of early Pliocene), including fossil remains tentatively referred to chameleons, potentially representing the oldest occurrences of chameleons from Asia reported to date.

Ichthyosauromorphs

Ichthyosauromorph research

* Redescription of the holotypes of '' Grendelius pseudoscythicus'' and ''G. zhuravlevi'' is published by Zverkov, Arkhangelsky & Stenshin (2023), who consider both species to be valid, indicating the presence of at least three species of ''Grendelius'' in the Middle Russian Sea during the latest Jurassic, and argue that there is insufficient evidence for synonymy between the genera ''Brachypterygius'' and ''Grendelius''.

Sauropterygians

Sauropterygian research

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Turtles

Turtle research

* Tong ''et al.'' (2023) describe a skull of a member of the species '' Solemys gaudryi'' from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Bastide Neuve locality (Var, France), providing new information on the skull anatomy of helochelydrid turtles.
* Pérez-García, Camilo & Ortega (2023) describe new fossil material of '' Hylaeochelys kappa'' from the Tithonian Freixial Formation (Portugal), providing new information on the anatomy and intraspecific variability in this species.
* A study on the ecology of ''Araripemys barretoi'' is published by Batista, Carvalho & de la Fuente (2023).
* A study on the long bone microstructure of ''Protostega gigas'' is published by Wilson (2023), who interprets her findings as indicating that ''P. gigas'', unlike the more basal protostegid ''Desmatochelys'', had rapid bone growth patterns similar to those of extant leatherback sea turtles.
* A study on the relationship of body size to climate and on the role of metabolism in governing size in turtles is published by Parker ''et al.'' (2023), who report that the Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of turtles from the Shungura Formation (Ethiopia) included tortoises which were significantly larger than any extant African taxon, but aquatic turtles did not reach significantly larger maximum sizes than extant eastern African turtles; the authors find the studied fossil record of turtles to be consistent with habitat reconstructions for the Shungura Formation, interpret it as indicating that temperature-dependent metabolism likely wasn't a dominant factor for body size sorting in turtles from the Shungura Formation, and argue that the extinction of the largest eastern African tortoises may have been driven, in part, by human exploitation.

Archosauriformes

Archosaurs

Other archosauriforms

Archosauriform research

* A study on the locomotor capabilities of ''Euparkeria capensis'' is published by Demuth, Wiseman & Hutchinson (2023), who conclude that it is unlikely that ''Euparkeria'' was facultatively bipedal, and was probably quadrupedal.

Other reptiles

Other reptile research

* A study on the structure and placement of the osteoderm cover of '' Scutosaurus tuberculatus'' is published by Boyarinova & Golubev (2023).
* Redescription of the skull of the holotype of ''Bentonyx sidensis'', including description of previously obscured anatomical details, is published by Sethapanichsakul, Coram & Benton (2023).

References

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2023 in paleontology