''Vinitasaura'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lepidosauromorph Lepidosauromorpha (in PhyloCode known as Pan-Lepidosauria) is a group of reptiles comprising all diapsids closer to lizards than to archosaurs (which include crocodiles and birds). The only living sub-group is the Lepidosauria, which contains two ...

from the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch a ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. It contains a single

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, ''Vinitasaura lizae'', which is based on a complete jaw and jaw fragment from the

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Triassic series (stratigraphy), Series (or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Triassic Epoch (reference date), Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227.3 ...

-age

Vinita Formation Vinita may refer to: People *Vinita Bali (born 1955), Indian businesswoman, Managing Director of Britannia Industries *Vinita Gupta (born 1969), Indian-born American businesswoman, founder of Digital Link Corporation *Vinita Joshi, Indian televi ...

of the Richmond Basin. ''Vinitasaura'' lived alongside several other lepidosauromorphs, including the

sphenodontian Rhynchocephalia (; ) is an order (biology), order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living species, the tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') of New Zealand. Despite its current lack of diversity, during the Mesozoic rhynchocephalians ...

'' Micromenodon'' and an undescribed

pleurodont Pleurodont is a form of tooth implantation common in reptiles of the order Squamata, as well as in at least one temnospondyl Temnospondyli (from Greek language, Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 've ...

taxon. The Vinita Formation has the oldest lepidosauromorph assemblage found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, shedding light on the early diversification and dispersal of this reptile group.

References

Lepidosauromorpha Prehistoric reptile genera Late Triassic reptiles of North America Fossil taxa described in 2021 {{Triassic-reptile-stub