Paleothyris
Paleothyris
Extinct genus of reptiles
Paleothyris was a small, agile, anapsid romeriidan reptile which lived in the Moscovian (Carboniferous) age of the Late Carboniferous in Nova Scotia.
Paleothyris | |
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Paleothyris acadiana fossil | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Genus: | †Paleothyris Carroll, 1969 |
Species: | †P. acadiana |
Binomial name | |
†Paleothyris acadiana Carroll, 1969 | |
Paleothyris had sharp teeth and large eyes, meaning that it was likely a nocturnal hunter. It was about a foot long. It probably fed on insects and other smaller animals found on the floor of its forest home. Paleothyris was an early sauropsid, yet it still had some features that were more primitive, more labyrinthodont-like than reptile-like, especially its skull, which lacked fenestrae, holes found in the skulls of most modern reptiles and mammals.[1]
Arjan, Mann, et al. “Carbonodraco Lundi Gen Et Sp. Nov., the Oldest Parareptile, from Linton, Ohio, and New Insights into the Early Radiation of Reptiles.” Royal Society Open Science, 27 Nov. 2019, royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191191.
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