Knowra Parareptilia Parareptilia Parareptilia is a clade of early reptiles that includes pareiasaurs, procolophonids, and millerettids. Its members lived from the late Carboniferous or early Permian through the Triassic.
Amniote : An amniote is a vertebrate whose embryo develops within an amnion, a defining feature of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Parareptiles belong to this larger vertebrate group, whose members reproduce independently of open water.
Pareiasaur : Pareiasaurs were large, heavily armored herbivorous reptiles of the Permian. They are among the best-known parareptiles, with broad bodies and ornamented skulls.
Permian : The Permian was the final period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from about 299 to 252 million years ago. Most parareptile diversity belongs to this period, before the end-Permian mass extinction.
Eureptilia : Eureptilia is a major reptile lineage that includes diapsids and several early extinct groups. It is the principal counterpart to Parareptilia in traditional divisions of early reptiles.
Reptile : Reptiles are amniote vertebrates that include turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodilians, and extinct lineages. Parareptilia is one of the major extinct lineages within the broader reptile group.
Procolophonidae : Procolophonids were small, stocky reptiles that survived from the Permian into the Triassic. This diverse family represents a small-bodied branch of Parareptilia that persisted after the Permian extinction.
Carboniferous : The Carboniferous was a geological period preceding the Permian, lasting from about 359 to 299 million years ago. Some proposed early parareptile fossils come from the late Carboniferous, near the clade’s origin.
Diapsid : A diapsid is a reptile whose ancestral skull has two temporal openings on each side. Diapsids form the lineage containing most living reptiles, unlike the traditionally anapsid parareptiles.
Temporal fenestra : A temporal fenestra is an opening in the skull behind the eye socket. The number and arrangement of these openings have shaped competing schemes for classifying early reptiles.
Millerettidae : Millerettids were small Permian reptiles known chiefly from fossils in southern Africa. Their early-diverging position helps illustrate the range of forms included in Parareptilia.
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