Phonodus

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Phonodus
Temporal range: Early Triassic
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Parareptilia
Order: Procolophonomorpha
Family: Procolophonidae
Subfamily: Leptopleuroninae
Genus: Phonodus
Modesto et al., 2010
Type species
Phonodus dutoitorum
Modesto et al., 2010

Phonodus is an extinct genus of procolophonid parareptile. It is known from a single skull found from the Early Triassic Katberg Formation in South Africa. It is the oldest known member of the subfamily Leptopleuroninae, and was likely the result of a procolophonid migration into the Karoo Basin from Laurasia after the Permo-Triassic extinction event. Because Phonodus had large maxillary teeth underneath a large antorbital buttress (a bony prominence in front of the eye), and a lack of ventral temporal emargination along the side of the skull, it probably had a durophagous diet. [1]

Phylogeny

A cladogram after Modesto et al. (2010): [1]

Leptopleuroninae

Pentaedrusaurus ordosianus

Neoprocolophon asiaticus

Phonodus dutoitorum

clade "N"

Sclerosaurus armatus

Scoloparia glyphanodon

Leptopleuron lacertinum

Soturnia caliodon

Hypsognathus fenneri

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Procolophoninae</span> Extinct subfamily of reptiles

Procolophoninae is an extinct subfamily of procolophonid parareptiles from the late Early Triassic to the early Middle Triassic of Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe and South America. Currently, the oldest-known procolophonine is Procolophon from the earliest Olenekian stage.

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Pentaedrusaurus is an extinct genus of procolophonid parareptile from the Early Triassic of China. It is one of the most basal members of the procolophonid subfamily Leptopleuroninae. The only known species of Pentaedrusaurus, P. ordosianus, was named in 1989 from the Heshanggou Formation.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katberg Formation</span> Geological formation in the Beaufort Group of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa

The Katberg Formation is a geological formation that is found in the Beaufort Group, a major geological group that forms part of the greater Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. The Katberg Formation is the lowermost geological formation of the Tarkastad Subgroup which contains the Lower to Middle Triassic-aged rocks of the Beaufort Group. Outcrops and exposures of the Katberg Formation are found east of 24 degrees on wards and north of Graaff-Reniet, Nieu Bethesda, Cradock, Fort Beaufort, Queensdown, and East London in the south, and ranges as far north as Harrismith in deposits that form a ring around the Drakensberg mountain ranges.

References

  1. 1 2 Modesto, S.P.; Scott, D.M.; Botha-Brink, J.; Reisz, R.R. (2010). "A new and unusual procolophonid parareptile from the Lower Triassic Katberg Formation of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (3): 715–723. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30..715M. doi:10.1080/02724631003758003. S2CID   84563475.