Nanoparia

Nanoparia
Temporal range: Changhsingian,
Life reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pareiasauria
Clade: Pumiliopareiasauria
Genus: Nanoparia
Broom, 1936
Type species
Nanoparia luckhoffi
Broom, 1936

Nanoparia is an extinct genus of pareiasaur known from the Permian of South Africa.

Description

It was about 60 cm (23.6 in) in length, and weighed around 8 to 10 kilograms (17.6-22 lbs).

Classification

Nanoparia is an unusually small, spiny form. The skull is very similar to that of the Pareiasaurus, and Alfred Romer considered it a synonym of the latter. Yuri Orlov, however (in Osnovy Paleontology, the monumental multi-volume Russian textbook of Paleontology), placed it in the Elginiinae. Kuhn (1969) argued that, while resembling Elginia in the ossifications at the rear of the skull, it differs completely in proportions and does not seem to be related. Lee (1997) considered it a basal member of the dwarf pareiasaurs.[1]

References

  1. ^ Lee, Michael S. Y. (1996). "Correlated progression and the origin of turtles". Nature. 379 (6568): 812–815. Bibcode:1996Natur.379..812L. doi:10.1038/379812a0. S2CID 29609847.