Aphelosaurus lutevensis (Gervais 1859, Early Permian 290 mya) has been known for a long, long time. It was described as an enigmatic reptile from the Lower Permian. It is represented by a headless, neckless, tail-less but otherwise completely articulated skeleton. Falconnet and Steyer (2007) considered it an araeoscelidian, but not quite one. The large reptile tree nests Aphelosaurus at their base. That makes it a basal diapsid. Those tiny medial fingers and toes are dead giveaways.

Falconnet and Steyer (2007) considered Aphelosaurus a probable biped and a possible arboreal type. Outgroups were likely both, but this clade also led to aquatic and marine types likeTangasaurus.

The posteriorly elongate ilium, here displaced from the sacrals (deep blue) to align with several caudals (red and green).