What is the enigmatic Otter Sandstone (Middle Triassic) diapsid?

Coram, Radley and Benton 2017
presented a “small diapsid reptile [BRSUG 29950-12], possibly, pending systematic study, a basal lepidosaur or a protorosaurian.” According to Coram et al. “The Middle Triassic (Anisian) Otter Sandstone was laid down mostly by braided rivers in a desert environment.”

The LRT is here to nest and identify published enigmas
The large reptile tree (LRT 1041 taxa) nests BRSUG 29950-12 with the basalmost lepidosaur Megachirella. They are a close match and preserve nearly identical portions of their skeletons (Fig. 2). Megachirella was originally considered a sister to Marmoretta, another basal sphenodontian from the much later Middle/Late Jurassic.

At the base of the Lepidosauria
in the LRT nests Megachirella, derived from a sister to Sophineta (Early Triassic) and Saurosternon + Palaegama (Latest Permian) and kin. Sisters to Megachirella within the Lepidosauria include the tritosaurs Tijubina + Huehuecuetzpalli (Early Cretaceous), Macrocnemus (Middle Triassic) and the prosquamate Lacertulus (Late Permian). Also similar and related to Palaegama is Jesairosaurus (Middle Triassic). So the genesis of the Lepidosauria is Late Permian. The initial radiation produced taxa that continued into the Early Cretaceous. The radiation of derived taxa continued with three major clades, only one of which, the Tritosauria, is now completely extinct.

Note
It is important to remember that lepdiosaurs and protorosaurs are not closely related, but arrived at similar bauplans by convergence, according to the LRT. The former is a member of the new Lepidosauromorpha. The latter is a member of the new Archosauromorpha. Last common ancestor: Gephyrostegus and kin.

Nesting at the base of the Lepidosauria
in the Sphenodontia clade makes the BSRUG specimen an important taxon. Let’s see if and when this taxon is nested by academic workers that they include all of the pertinent taxa and confirm or re-discover the Tritosauria. The LRT provides a good list of nearly all of the pertinent taxa that should be included in that future study, many of which are listed above. Based on that list, the BSRUG specimen is a late-survivor of a perhaps Middle Permian radiation of basal lepidosaurs.

References
Coram RA, Radley JD and Benton MJ 2017. The Middle Triassic (Anisian) Otter Sandstone biota (Devon, UK): review, recent discoveries and ways ahead. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association in press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.06.007