Procolophon
| Procolophon | ||||||||||||
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Live reconstruction of Procolophon trigoniceps |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Lower Triassic | ||||||||||||
| 251 to 245 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Procolophon | ||||||||||||
| Owen , 1876 | ||||||||||||
Procolophon is an extinct reptile from the Lower Triassic that belonged to the Procolophonidae . Fossils of the genus have been found in the deposits of the Beaufort group of South Africa , in Brazil and near the Shackleton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains . Numerous species have been described, some of which are no longer valid today. The type species is Procolophon trigoniceps , the type specimen is BMNH R1726, consisting of a skull and a three-dimensional body fossil. The type locality of the species is Donnybrook in the South African Queenstown District .
features
Procolophon was a small, lizard-like reptile and reached a length of twelve to forty centimeters. Its skull was broad and triangular, the eye sockets very large and elongated, the nostrils were almost entirely at the front end of the muzzle. The jaw adductors are attached to the rear edge of the eye sockets.
On the incisive bone (premaxilla) were four, on the upper jaw bone (maxilla) seven teeth per pine bough. Of the latter, five or six were laterally enlarged and chisel-shaped, as were the nine teeth on each branch of the mandible. Procolophon ate either plants ( herbivory ) and / or hard-shelled invertebrates ( durophagy ).
The torso was compact, the legs were strong and short, the feet wide and probably suitable for digging. The tail was short.
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 , p. 131.
- Edwin Harris Colbert, James William Kitching: The Triassic reptile Procolophon in Antarctica (= American Museum novitates. No. 2566, ISSN 0003-0082 ). American Museum of Natural History, New York NY 1975, online .
- Dorling Kindersley: Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life. 3rd edition. Dorling Kindersley, London 2001, ISBN 0-7513-0955-9 , p. 72.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Procolophon trigoniceps - The Paleobiology Database . Status: February 29, 2004
- ↑ Donnybrook (Queenstown District) - The Paleobiology Database . Last accessed on July 22, 2010
Web links
- The Paleobiology Database Procolophon
- University of Toronto: photo of a skull