Protoclepsydrops

Taxobox
name = "Protoclepsydrops"
fossil_range = Late Carboniferous (Middle Pennsylvanian)
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
unranked_classis = Amniota
classis = ?Synapsida
ordo = ?Pelycosauria
familia = ?Ophiacodontidae
genus = "Protoclepsydrops"
species = "P. haplous"
binomial = "Protoclepsydrops haplous"
binomial_authority = Carroll, 1964

"Protoclepsydrops" was an early amniote, and its skeletal remains indicate that it was more closely related to synapsids than to sauropsids, making it a synapsid member. It is the oldest synapsid, though still unconfirmed because its remains were fragmentary. "Protoclepsydrops" lived slightly earlier than "Archaeothyris". Like "Archaeothyris", "Protoclepsydrops" resembled modern lizards. However, "Protoclepsydrops" still had primitive tetrapod-like vertebrae with tiny neural processes.

ee also

* Evolution of mammals
* List of transitional fossils
* Carboniferous tetrapods
* "Clepsydrops"

ources

* [http://www.kheper.net/evolution/pelycosauria/Ophiacodontidae.html Ophiacodontids]