Procolophon Explained

Procolophon (from Greek, Modern (1453-);: πρό, 'before' and Greek, Modern (1453-);: κολοφών, 'summit')[1] is a genus of lizard-like procolophonid parareptiles that first appeared in the Early Triassic (Induan) of South Africa, Brazil, and Antarctica. It persisted through the Permian–Triassic extinction event, but went extinct in the beginning of the Early Middle Triassic. The type species is P. trigoniceps.[2]

History of discovery

The first Procolophon fossil was discovered in the 1870s in Donnybrook, an area southwest of Pietermaritzburg in present-day Kwa-Zulu Natal of South Africa. The fossil was accessioned to Harry Seeley, who described the fossil in 1878.[3] Numerous other fossils have been recovered since from localities across the Eastern Cape and Free State provinces of South Africa.[4] [5] [6] [7]

Description

Procolophon reached a length up to 30cm (10inches), and is considered to have been a small herbivore or insectivore. The skull of Procolophon is distinct because of its latero-posteriorly facing paired cheek spikes, along with spiked dermal ossicles. Paleontologists debate the function of the cheek spikes. Some paleontologists posit that the bony protrusions were points for muscle attachments. Procolophon also had large eyes, and may have had acute night vision. Its teeth were peg-like and suitable for crushing plant matter. The front of the skull was short and blunt with the nasal opening very close to the mouth.[8] [9]

Classification

Procolophon is a basal member of Procolophonidae, a clade of parareptiles that are closely related to larger, more derived parareptiles such as the pareiasaur, Bradysaurus. Procolophonids are also related to mesosaurids and millerettids. Procolophon was considered to share a sister-taxon relationship with Tichvinskia, a procolophonid from the lower Triassic of Russia.[10]

The cladogram below follows a phylogenetic analysis by Modesto and Damiani (2007) in which Procolophon is defined in polytomy with Thelerpeton and Leptopleuroninae:[11]

In their phylogenetic analyses, Butler et al. (2023) defined Procolophon as a sister taxon to Teratophon and Thelerpeton or only to Teratophon within Procolophoninae. The results are shown in two cladograms below:[12]

Analyses 1 and 3: Strict consensus of 760 and 18 most parsimonious trees (MPTs).

Analysis 2: Single MPT.

Correlation

Procolophon occupied a wide geographic range. Fossils of the genus were found in the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of the Katberg and Normandien Formations of South Africa, to the Sanga do Cabral Formation of the Paraná Basin in eastern Brazil,[13] [14] [15] to the Fremouw Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains.[16] Numerous subspecies and sister taxa are also found in the lower Triassic (Induan) of Germany, North America, and Russia.[17] [18]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Colbert . Edwin H. (Edwin Harris) . Knight . Charles Robert . The dinosaur book: the ruling reptiles and their relatives . 1951 . McGraw-Hill . New York . 153 .
  2. Kemp . T. S. . The braincase and associated structures of the cotylosaur reptile Procolophon trigoniceps Owen . Annals of the South African Museum . 64 . 1974 . 11–26 .
  3. Seeley . H. G. . On new Species of Procolophon from the Cape Colony preserved in Dr. Grierson's Museum, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire; with some Remarks on the Affinities of the Genus . Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society . 1 January 1878 . 34 . 1–4 . 797–807 . 10.1144/GSL.JGS.1878.034.01-04.51 . 128830316 .
  4. . GOW . CE . Tooth function and succession in the Triassic reptile Procolophon trigoniceps . Palaeontology . 1977 . 20 . 3 . 695–704 .
  5. Carroll . Robert L. . Lindsay . William . Cranial anatomy of the primitive reptile Procolophon . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 1 November 1985 . 22 . 11 . 1571–1587 . 10.1139/e85-166 . 1985CaJES..22.1571C .
  6. Groenewald . G.H. . Burrow casts from the Lystrosaurus-Procolophon Assemblage-zone, Karoo Sequence, South Africa . Koedoe . 24 September 1991 . 34 . 1 . 13–22 . 10.4102/koedoe.v34i1.409 . free .
  7. Cisneros . Juan Carlos . New basal procolophonid reptile from the Katberg formation (Lower Triassic) of the South African Karoo . Palaeoworld . June 2008 . 17 . 2 . 126–134 . 10.1016/j.palwor.2008.06.003 .
  8. deBraga . Michael . The postcranial skeleton, phylogenetic position, and probable lifestyle of the Early Triassic reptile Procolophon trigoniceps . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 1 April 2003 . 40 . 4 . 527–556 . 10.1139/e02-082 . 2003CaJES..40..527D .
  9. Cisneros . Juan Carlos . Ruta . Marcello . Morphological diversity and biogeography of procolophonids (Amniota: Parareptilia) . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 3 November 2010 . 8 . 4 . 607–625 . 10.1080/14772019.2010.491986 . 2010JSPal...8..607C . 84496551 .
  10. Ivakhnenko . M. F. . Skull structure in the Early Triassic procolophonian Tichvinskia vjatkensis . Paleontological Journal . 7 . 1973 . 511–518 .
  11. Sean Patrick Modesto, Ross Damiani. 2007. The procolophonoid reptile Sauropareion anoplus from the lowermost Triassic of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27. 2. 346–347. 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[337:TPRSAF]2.0.CO;2.
  12. Butler . R. J. . Meade . L. E. . Cleary . T. J. . McWhirter . K. T. . Brown . E. E. . Kemp . T. S. . Benito . J. . Fraser . N. C. . 2023 . Hwiccewyrm trispiculum gen. et sp. nov., a new leptopleuronine procolophonid from the Late Triassic of southwest England . The Anatomical Record . 10.1002/ar.25316 . 37735997 . free.
  13. Dias-da-Silva . Sérgio . Modesto . Sean Patrick . Schultz . Cesar Leandro . New material of Procolophon (Parareptilia: Procolophonoidea) from the Lower Triassic of Brazil, with remarks on the ages of the Sanga do Cabral and Buena Vista formations of South America . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 1 November 2006 . 43 . 11 . 1685–1693 . 10.1139/e06-043 . 2006CaJES..43.1685D .
  14. Cisneros . Juan Carlos . Schultz . Cesar Leandro . Procolophon brasiliensis n. sp., a new procolophonid reptile from the Lower Triassic of southern Brazil . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte . 15 November 2002 . 2002 . 11 . 641–648 . 10.1127/njgpm/2002/2002/641 .
  15. Schoch . Rainer R. . A procolophonid-like tetrapod from the German Middle Triassic . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen . 1 February 2011 . 259 . 2 . 251–255 . 10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0124 .
  16. Kitching . J. W. . Collinson . J. W. . Elliot . D. H. . Colbert . E. H. . Lystrosaurus Zone (Triassic) Fauna from Antarctica . Science . 4 February 1972 . 175 . 4021 . 524–527 . 10.1126/science.175.4021.524 . 17755654 . 1972Sci...175..524K . 40597467 .
  17. Säilä . Laura K. . The osteology and affinities of Anomoiodon liliensterni, a procolophonid reptile from the Lower Triassic Bundsandstein of Germany . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 12 December 2008 . 28 . 4 . 1199–1205 . 10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1199 . 2008JVPal..28.1199S . 14428420 .
  18. Sues . Hans-Dieter . Olsen . Paul E. . Scott . Diane M. . Spencer . Patrick S. . Cranial osteology of Hypsognathus fenneri, a latest Triassic procolophonid reptile from the Newark Supergroup of eastern North America . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 27 June 2000 . 20 . 2 . 275–284 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0275:COOHFA]2.0.CO;2 . 17669446 .

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