Protorothyrididae

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Protorothyrididae
Life picture of Protorothyris archeri

Life picture of Protorothyris archeri

Temporal occurrence
Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian
315 to 279 million years
Locations
Systematics
Chordates (chordata)
Vertebrates (vertebrata)
Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
Sauropsida
Eureptiles (Eureptilia)
Protorothyrididae
Scientific name
Protorothyrididae
Price , 1937

The Protorothyrididae ( Syn .: Protorothyridae ) are a group of extinct reptiles from the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian . Finds of these animals come from Nova Scotia in eastern Canada and were found in hollow shed trees . The best-known species are Hylonomus lyelli and Paleothyris acadiana , both about eight inches long.

Due to the characteristics of the dentition and the small size, the Protorothyrididae were likely insect hunters . The skeleton of the chest and neck area was very strong. The shoulder blade and the coracoid were fused into a scapulocoracoid , in front of which a thin collarbone and a cleithrum lay. The latter is no longer present in modern reptiles.

Systematics

The Protorothyrididae are assigned to the anapsids in the traditional system because of their missing skull windows . As primitive representatives without skull windows they belong to the clade leading to the diapsids . This clade is called Eureptilia in cladistics .

Subordinate taxa

literature

  1. Michael SY Lee: Molecules, morphology, and the monophyly of diapsid reptiles. In: Contributions to Zoology. Vol. 70, No. 1, 2001, pp. 1-22, online .

Web links

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