In their 2003 description of
Lanthanolania, Modesto and Reisz described this taxon as a diapsid reptile based on the triradiate (three-pronged) morphology of the
postorbital and
jugal. In some versions of their
phylogenetic analyses, it was placed as a member of the
Lepidosauromorpha within the reptile
crown group, although the authors noted that additional research is needed on early reptiles to better understand their relationships. While they observed the ventral surface of the
parasphenoid is flat, similar to
millerettids, they concluded that the diapsid skull anatomy is inconsistent with a placement of
Lanthanolania within this clade. }} In 2025, Jenkins et al. published the results of an expansive phylogenetic dataset incorporating
synchrotron data, in which they identified
Lanthanolania as the earliest-diverging member of the
Millerettidae within the novel
neoreptilian clade
Parapleurota, outside of
Neodiapsida. These results are displayed in
Cladogram A below: Later that year, Buffa, Jenkins, and Benoit published a redescription of the Permian reptile
Galesphyrus using a different matrix for their phylogenetic analysis. While
Lanthanolania had to be trimmed from the analysis to achieve better resolution for the placement of
Galesphyrus, earlier iterations of the analysis placed it in a position roughly equivalent to the base of Parapleurota (called 'Clade P' by these authors). The likely position of
Lanthanolania is shown in
Cladogram B below, inferred from the first analysis iteration.
Cladogram A: Jenkins et al. (2025) }}|label1=
Neoreptilia}}
Cladogram B: Buffa, Jenkins & Benoit (2025) |label1=
Neoreptilia}} ==References==