Athena Review Image Archive ™
Procolophon skeleton
Skeleton of Procolophon (drawing after U.California Paleontology website)
Procolophon was a small, anapsid reptile, widely distributed in Late Permian and Early Triassic times in North America, Europe, China, Russia, Africa, and Antarctica. They are associated with the Early Triassic Lystrosaurus Zone in South Africa, dating from aboput 252-248 mya.
Procolophon affinities have long been debated. Their body length is about 30 cm. All known Upper Permian and some Lower Triassic procolophonoids had sharp teeth, and were either insectivorous or carnivorous. Later forms from the Middle and Upper Triassic, however, have broad, bulbous teeth that indicate a herbivorous diet.
Primitive traits shared by all procolophonoids include a pineal foramen, a large hole between the orbits now lost in extant anapsid reptiles (those without skull fenestrae or openings for jaw muscle attachment; examples include turtles). The presence of a slender stapes (sound-conducting middle ear ossicle) in a groove of the quadrate bone near the lower jaw joint indicates that procolophonoids had a tympanum or ear drum and could hear some high frequency airborne sounds.
References
U.Cal. Paleontology website
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