Paleothyris

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
Paleothyris (details not accurate)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Captorhinida
Suborder:	Captorhinomorpha
Family:	Protorothyrididae
Genus:	Paleothyris Carroll, 1969
Species
P. acadiana Carroll, 1969 (type)

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

• 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