Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Paleothyris

Paleothyris is an extinct genus of small reptiliomorph which lived in the Moscovian age of the Late Carboniferous in Nova Scotia.

Last revised
Jul 20, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
193 w
Citations
1
Source
Paleothyris
Temporal range:
Paleothyris acadiana fossil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Genus: Paleothyris
Carroll, 1969
Species:
P. acadiana
Binomial name
Paleothyris acadiana
Carroll, 1969

Paleothyris is an extinct genus of small reptiliomorph which lived in the Moscovian age of the Late Carboniferous in Nova Scotia.

Description

Life restoration source ↗
Skull reconstruction of Paleothyris
Skull reconstruction source ↗

Paleothyris had sharp teeth and large eyes, meaning that it was likely 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 primitive, more labyrinthodont-like than reptile-like, especially its skull, which lacked fenestrae, holes found in the skulls of most modern reptiles and mammals.1

See also

See also

References

References

Arjan, Mann, et al. “Carbonodraco Lundi Gen Et Sp. Nov., the Oldest Parareptile, from Linton, Ohio, and New Insights into the Early Radiation of Reptiles.” Royal Society Open Science, 27 Nov. 2019, royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191191.

  1. Carroll, Robert L. (January 1969). "A Middle Pennsylvanian Captorhinomorph, and the Interrelationships of Primitive Reptiles". Journal of Paleontology. 43 (1): 151–170. JSTOR 1302357.