The Procolophonia are an suborder of herbivorous reptiles that lived from the Middle Permian till the end of the Triassic period. They were originally included as a suborder of the Cotylosauria (later renamed Captorhinida Carroll 1988) but are now considered a clade of Parareptilia. They are closely related to other generally lizard-like Permian reptiles such as the Millerettidae, Bolosauridae, Acleistorhinidae, Lanthanosuchidae, and Nyctiphruretidae, all of which are included under the Anapsida or "Parareptiles" (as opposed to the Eureptilia). Genera Bradysaurus Nochelesaurus Embrithosaurus Deltavjatia Velosauria Shihtienfenia Pareiasuchus Pareiasaurus Scutosaurus Elginia Nanopareia Anthodon The Pareiasaurs - family Pareiasauridae - are a group of medium-sized to very large (60 cm to 3 meters long), stocky, early, reptilian herbivores, that flourished during the Permian period. ... Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage In zoology, an herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat primarily plant matter (rather than meat). ... Orders See text. ... Groups See cladograms below Parareptilia (at the side of reptiles) is a subclass or clade of Reptiles which are variously defined as an extinct group of primitive anapsids, or a more cladistically correct alternative to Anapsida. ... The milleretids is an extinct group of anapsids that lived in South Africa during the Upper Permian. ... The bolosaurids is an extinct group of anapsids from the Permian. ... Orders Testudines (Turtles) Millerettid - extinct Nyctiphruret - extinct Pareiasaur - extinct Procolophonoid - extinct The anapsids are a group of amniotes, characterized by skulls without openings near the temples. ... Groups Captorhinidae Romeriida Protorothyrididae Diapsida Eureptilia is one of the two major clades of the Sauropsida, the other being Anaspida or Parareptilia. ...

Subclassification

There are two main groups of Procolophonia, the small, lizard-like Procolophonoidea, and the Pareiasauroidea, which include the large, armoured Pareiasauridae. Smaller groups like Rhipaeosauridae and Sclerosauridae might be placed in either superfamily, or prior to both, although according to the traditional classifification of Carroll 1988 the Rhipaeosauridae are classified with the Pareiasaurs and the Sclerosaurs with the Procolophonids. Genera Bradysaurus Nochelesaurus Embrithosaurus Deltavjatia Velosauria Shihtienfenia Pareiasuchus Pareiasaurus Scutosaurus Elginia Nanopareia Anthodon The Pareiasaurs - family Pareiasauridae - are a group of medium-sized to very large (60 cm to 3 meters long), stocky, early, reptilian herbivores, that flourished during the Permian period. ...

Relation to Turtles

The Procolophonia are traditionally thought to be ancestral to the Turtles, although experts disagree over whether turtle ancestors are to be sought among the Procolophnidae, the Pareiasauridae (Lee 1995,1996, 1997), or simply a generic Procolophnian ancestor. Laurin & Reisz, 1995 and Laurin & Gauthier 1996 define the Procolophonia cladistically as "The most recent common ancestor of pareiasaurs, procolophonids, and testudines (Chelonia), and all its descendants", and list a number of autapomorphies. However, Rieppel and deBraga 1996 and deBraga & Rieppel, 1997 argue that turtles evolved from Sauropterygians, which would mean that the Parareptilia and Procolophonia constitute wholely extinct clades that are only distantly related to living reptiles. An order of Reptiles, called the Crown Group. Its distinctive characteristic is that part of its vertebrae, ribs, and sternum unite with its dermal plates so as to form a firm shell. ... Groups ?Placodontia Pachypleurosauridae Nothosauridae    Plesiosauria Sauropterygia (lizard flippers) is a group of very successful aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Age of the Dinosaurs before they became extinct. ...

References

• Carroll, R. L., (1988), Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution (incl. Appendix; Vertebrate Classification), W.H. Freeman & Co. New York
• deBraga M. & O. Rieppel. 1997. Reptile phylogeny and the interrelationships of turtles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 120: 281-354.
• Kuhn, O, 1969, Cotylosauria, part 6 of Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie (Encyclopedia of Palaeoherpetology), Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart & Portland
• Laurin, M., & Gauthier, J. A., 1996 Phylogeny and Classification of Amniotes, at the Tree of Life Web Project
• Laurin, M. & R. R. Reisz. 1995. A reevaluation of early amniote phylogeny. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 113: 165-223.
• Lee, M. S. Y. 1995. Historical burden in systematics and the interrelationships of 'Parareptiles'. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 70: 459-547.
• Lee M. S. Y. 1996. Correlated progression and the origin of turtles. Nature 379: 812-815.
• Lee, M. S. Y., 1997: Pareiasaur phylogeny and the origin of turtles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society: Vol. 120, pp. 197-280
• Rieppel O. & M. deBraga. 1996. Turtles as diapsid reptiles. Nature 384: 453-455.

Robert L. Carroll (b. ... Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution is an advanced textbook on vertebrate paleontology by Robert L. Carroll, published by WH Freeman. ... The Tree of Life Web Project is an ongoing Internet project and providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth. ... Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is a academic journal published by Blackwell Publishing Limited. ... Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is a academic journal published by Blackwell Publishing Limited. ...

Links

• Hallucicrania - Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
• Basal Anapsids - Palaeos