Petrolacosaurus
| Petrolacosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Petrolacosaurus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Carboniferous (Missourium) | ||||||||||||
| 305 to 302 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Petrolacosauridae | ||||||||||||
| Peabody , 1952 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Petrolacosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Lane , 1945 |
Petrolacosaurus was a genus of Araeoscelidia , a lizard-like family that was believed to be the most primitive diapsid reptile . The only species described is Petrolacosaurus kansensis . Petrolacosaurus fossilswere firstfoundin Kansas, United States ,in the 1930s.
features
Petrolacosaurus was a slender lizard that grew to about 40 cm long. Compared to Hylonomus , the head is relatively small and is less than a fifth of the body length. The skull has larger orbits , two temporal windows, and a larger number of small teeth on the roof of the mouth. The muzzle was short. The teeth on the edge of the jaw were sharp, indicating that Petrolacosaurus was feeding on insects and other small animals. In addition to the choanas (the paired posterior openings of the nasal cavity), which are present in all terrestrial vertebrates, there are two further openings on the right and left in the palate, the suborbital windows. The neck and legs are longer than those of the hylonomus . Perhaps Petrolacosaurus was a fast runner.
literature
- Michael J. Benton : Paleontology of the vertebrates. Translation of the 3rd English edition by Hans-Ulrich Pfretzschner Pfeil, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-89937-072-0 , pp. 132-133.