Youngina

Youngina
Temporal range: Late Permian,
Speculative life restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Parapleurota
Clade: Neodiapsida
Family: Younginidae
Genus: Youngina
Broom 1914
Type species
Youngina capensis

Youngina (named after John Young (1823–1900)) is an extinct genus of small, lizard-like stem-group reptile from the Late Permian Beaufort Group (CistecephalusDaptocephalus assemblage zones) of the Karoo Supergroup of South Africa. Youngina has been the subject of considerable scientific attention due to its basal position within Neodiapsida (having diverged before the last common ancestor of all living reptiles) and its well-preserved skulls, with Youngina seen as providing insight into the plesiomorphic (ancestral) morphology of the last common ancestor of living reptiles.