Biology:Procolophonidae

Short description: Extinct family of reptiles

Procolophonids Temporal range: 265–201.3 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Middle Permian - Late Triassic
Skeleton (top) and life restoration (bottom) of Kapes bentoni (Procolophoninae) scale bar = 1cm
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	†Parareptilia
Order:	†Procolophonomorpha
Superfamily:	†Procolophonoidea
Family:	†Procolophonidae Seeley, 1888
Subgroups and Genera
†Coletta †Gomphiosauridion ? †Kinelia ? †Kitchingnathus †Lasasaurus †Oryporan †Phaanthosaurus †Pintosaurus †Sauropareion †Smilodonterpeton †Sphenosaurus †Suchonosaurus †Spondylolestes? †Tichvinskia †Xenodiphyodon? †Youngetta †Leptopleuroninae †Procolophoninae †Theledectinae
Synonyms
Sclerosauridae Nopcsa, 1923

Skull of Kapes bentoni

Procolophonidae is an extinct family of small, lizard-like parareptiles known from the Late Permian to Late Triassic that were distributed across Pangaea, having been reported from Europe, North America, China, South Africa, South America, Antarctica and Australia. The most primitive procolophonids were likely insectiovous or omnivorous, more derived members of the clade developed bicusped molars, and were likely herbivorous feeding on high fiber vegetation or durophagous omnivores. Many members of the group are noted for spines projecting from the quadratojugal bone of the skull, which likely served a defensive purpose as well as possibly also for display. At least some taxa were likely fossorial burrowers. While diverse during the Early and Middle Triassic, they had very low diversity during the Late Triassic, and were extinct by the beginning of the Jurassic.

Phylogeny

Below is a cladogram from Ruta et al. (2011):

Procolophonidae

Coletta seca     Pintosaurus magnidentis     Sauropareion anoplus     Kitchingnathus untabeni       Phaanthosaurus ignatjevi     Phaanthosaurus simus       Theledectinae   Eumetabolodon dongshengensis     Theledectes perforatus         Tichvinskia vjatkensis     Leptopleuroninae   Pentaedrusaurus ordosianus       Neoprocolophon asiaticus         Sclerosaurus armatus     Scoloparia glyphanodon         Leptopleuron lacertinum       Soturnia caliodon     Hypsognathus fenneri             Procolophoninae     Eumetabolodon bathycephalus       Procolophon trigoniceps     Teratophon spinigenis     Thelerpeton oppressus           Timanophon raridentatus       Thelephon contritus       Anomoiodon liliensterni       Kapes amaenus     Kapes bentoni     Kapes komiensis     Kapes majmesculae

Sources

• Lambert, David (2001). Dinosaur Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 72. ISBN 9780789479358. https://archive.org/details/dinosaurencyclop00lamb. 

External links

• Introduction to Procolophonoidea

Wikidata ☰ Q133347 entry