''Koiloskiosaurus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

procolophonid Procolophonidae is an extinct family of small, lizard-like 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, Antarc ...

parareptile Parareptilia ("at the side of reptiles") is a subclass or clade of basal sauropsids (reptiles), typically considered the sister taxon to Eureptilia (the group that likely contains all living reptiles and birds). Parareptiles first arose near th ...

from the

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which is a un ...

of Germany. The type and only species ''Koiloskiosaurus coburgensis'' was named by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1911 from a layer of rocks called the

Buntsandstein The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandst ...

. ''Koiloskiosaurus coburgensis'' is known from a block of three fossilized skeletons preserved together. Given that the skeletons are oriented in the same direction, the individuals most likely died in a burrow. Features of the skeletons of ''Koiloskiosaurus'' and other procolophonids, such as robust limbs and solid, immovable skull bones, are also taken as evidence that they were burrowers.

References

Leptopleuronines Triassic parareptiles Fossils of Germany Fossil taxa described in 1911 Prehistoric reptile genera {{triassic-reptile-stub