From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Protoclepsydrops |
| Type |
perhaps a primitive synapsid/pelycosaur |
| Length |
Unknown |
| Movement |
quadruped |
| Age |
315 million years ago |
| Diet |
carnivore - small insects |
| Environment |
forests |
| Distribution |
Nova Scotia, Canada |
Protoclepsydrops was an early amniote, and its skeletal remains indicates that it was related to synapsids than to sauropsids, making it a synapsid member. It is the oldest synapsid, though still unconfirmed because its remains were fragmentary. It is slightly older than Archaeothyris because this amniote lived early Pennsylvanian, while Archaeothyris lived early-mid Pennsylvanian, a little later. Like Archaeothyris, it was typically lizard-shaped, and have been put in the Ophiacodontidae family. Protoclepsydrops may have resembled Archaeothyris. Protoclepsydrops still had primitive tetrapod-like vertebrae with tiny neural processes.
