Procolophonidae
Sign in to saveleft|thumb|Skull of Kapes bentoni Procolophonidae is an extinct family of small, lizard-like procolophonian "parareptiles" known from the Late Permian to Late Triassic that were distributed across Pangaea, having been reported from Europe, North America, China, South Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia.
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6 sectionsContents
- Ecology
- Evolution
- Phylogeny
- References
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left|thumb|Skull of Kapes bentoni Procolophonidae is an extinct family of small, lizard-like procolophonian "parareptiles" known from the Late Permian to Late Triassic that were distributed across Pangaea, having been reported from Europe, North America, China, South Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia.
== Ecology == The most primitive procolophonids were likely insectivorous or omnivorous, while more derived members of the clade developed bicusped molars, likely either herbivores feeding on high fiber vegetation or durophagous omnivores. Many members of the group are noted for spines projecting from the quadratojugal bone of the skull, which likely served a defensive purpose as well as possibly also for display. At least some taxa were likely fossorial burrowers.