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''Paleothyris'' was a small, agile,
* 
''
anapsid
An anapsid is an amniote whose skull lacks one or more skull openings (fenestra, or fossae) near the temples. Traditionally, the Anapsida are the most primitive subclass of amniotes, the ancestral stock from which Synapsida and Diapsida evolve ...
romeriidan reptile which lived in the Middle Pennsylvanian epoch in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
(approximately 312 to 304 million years ago). ''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 insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s and other smaller animals found on the floor of its forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
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.
See also
* ''Westlothiana
''Westlothiana'' ("animal from West Lothian") is a genus of reptile-like tetrapod that lived about 338 million years ago during the latest part of the Visean age of the Carboniferous. Members of the genus bore a superficial resemblance to modern ...
'', from 335 million years ago, either an early amniote or a sister group to the amniotes
* ''Casineria
''Casineria'' is an extinct genus of tetrapod which lived about 340-334 million years ago in the Mississippian epoch of the Carboniferous period. Its generic name, ''Casineria'', is a latinization of Cheese Bay, the site near Edinburgh, Scotla ...
'', from 340 million years ago, a basal amniote.
* ''Hylonomus
''Hylonomus'' (; ''hylo-'' "forest" + ''nomos'' "dweller") is an extinct genus of reptile that lived 312 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period.
It is the earliest unquestionable reptile (''Westlothiana'' is older, but in fact it ...
'', from 312 million years ago, another early anapsid
An anapsid is an amniote whose skull lacks one or more skull openings (fenestra, or fossae) near the temples. Traditionally, the Anapsida are the most primitive subclass of amniotes, the ancestral stock from which Synapsida and Diapsida evolve ...
reptile
* ''Petrolacosaurus
''Petrolacosaurus'' ("rock lake lizard") is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile from the late Carboniferous period. It was a small, long reptile, and the earliest known reptile with two temporal fenestrae (holes at the rear part of the skull ...
'', from 302 million years ago, the first diapsid
Diapsids ("two arches") are a clade of sauropsids, distinguished from more primitive eureptiles by the presence of two holes, known as temporal fenestrae, in each side of their skulls. The group first appeared about three hundred million years a ...
reptile
* ''Archaeothyris
''Archaeothyris'' is an extinct genus of ophiacodontid synapsid that lived during the Late Carboniferous and is known from Nova Scotia. Dated to 306 million years ago, ''Archaeothyris'', along with a more poorly known synapsid called '' Echinerpe ...
'', from 306 million years ago, an early synapsid
Synapsids + (, 'arch') > () "having a fused arch"; synonymous with ''theropsids'' (Greek, "beast-face") are one of the two major groups of animals that evolved from basal amniotes, the other being the sauropsids, the group that includes reptil ...
(proto-mammal)
* Carboniferous tetrapods
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. Carboniferous reptiles of North America Transitional fossils Prehistoric romeriids Prehistoric reptile genera Fossil taxa described in 1969 Paleozoic life of Nova Scotia {{carboniferous-animal-stub