Macroleter

Macroleter is an extinct genus of nycteroleterid parareptile which existed in Oklahoma and Russia during the upper Permian period. It was a quite generalized primitive reptile, in many ways resembling their amphibian ancestors. It was first named by paleontologists Tverdochlebova and Ivachnenko in 1984. According to classification by Michel Laurin and Robert R. Reisz, the genus is a parareptile, belonging to the same branch as Millerettidae, Procolophonidae and other generalized anapsid reptiles.^[2] The type species is Macroleter poezicus from Upper Permian of Russia.

Macroleter Temporal range: Late Permian, 264 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull photo and diagram of Bashkyroleter mesensis and Macroleter poezicus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	†Parareptilia
Order:	†Procolophonomorpha
Family:	†Nycteroleteridae
Genus:	†Macroleter Tverdochlebova & Ivachnenko, 1984
Type species
†Macroleter poezicus Tverdochlebova & Ivachnenko, 1984
Species
M. poezicus Tverdochlebova & Ivachnenko, 1984 (type) M. agilis (Olson, 1980 [originally Seymouria agilis]) Reisz & Laurin, 2001
Synonyms
Seymouria agilis Olson, 1980 Tokosaurus Tverdochlebova and Ivachnenko, 1984[1] Tokosaurus perforatus Tverdochlebova and Ivachnenko, 1984 (of M. poezicus)[1]

Restoration

Macroleter had an 8 cm skull, and an overall length of 75 cm. It was generally lizard-like in build with a rather flat and broad skull. The teeth were small and pointy, indication it predominantly hunted insects and other small invertebrates.^[3]

Restoration of "Tokosaurus perforatus", a juvenile M. poezicus

Seymouria agilis (Olson, 1980) that is known from only one specimen (holotype UCMP 143 277) was originally thought to be a reptile-like amphibian and assigned to the genus Seymouria. The find consists of a nearly complete skeleton from the Chickasha Formation of Oklahoma. In 2001, the find was reassigned by Laurin and Reisz to Macroleter.^[2] Tokosaurus, another parareptile thought to be closely related to Macroleter, has also been reassigned to Macroleter and considered to be a juvenile of M. poezicus as they are known from the same locality.^[1]

References

1. Tsuji, Linda A.; Müller, Johannes; Reisz, Robert R. (1 January 2012). "Anatomy of Emeroleter levis and the phylogeny of the nycteroleter parareptiles". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (1): 45–67. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.626004. S2CID 55268829.
2. Michel Laurin; Robert R. Reisz (2001). "The reptile Macroleter: First vertebrate evidence for correlation of Upper Permian continental strata of North America and Russia" (PDF). Geological Society of America Bulletin. 113 (9): 1229–1233. Bibcode:2001GSAB..113.1229R. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1229:trmfve>2.0.co;2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27.
3. White, T. & Kazlev, M. A. "Nycteroleteridae". [Paleos]. Retrieved 10 September 2012.