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 (Cistecephalus–Daptocephalus 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.