Paleothyris
genus of reptiles
Paleothyris was a small, agile, anapsid reptile which lived in the Pennsylvanian epoch in Nova Scotia (about 312 to 304 million years ago).
| Paleothyris Temporal range: Pennsylvanian
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| Paleothyris (details not accurate) | |
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| Genus: | Paleothyris Carroll, 1969
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Paleothyris had sharp teeth and large eyes: it was 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 labyrinthodont-like than reptile-like. Its skull lacked fenestrae, holes found in the skulls of most reptiles and mammals.
Related pages
change- Pederpes, an early Mississippian tetrapod, 359–345 million years ago (mya).
- Westlothiana, from 350mya, either an early amniote or a sister group to the amniotes
- Casineria, from 340 mya, a basal amniote.
- Protoclepsydrops, from the middle Pennsylvanian, 314 mya, probable earliest synapsid
- Hylonomus, from 312 mya, another early anapsid sauropsid
- Archaeothyris, from 306 mya, an early synapsid
- Petrolacosaurus, from 302 mya, the first diapsid sauropsid