Clepsydrops

Clepsydrops
Temporal range: Carboniferous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Family: †Ophiacodontidae
Genus: †Clepsydrops
Cope, 1875
Species
  • Clepsydrops collettii
  • Clepsydrops limbatus
  • Clepsydrops natalis
  • Clepsydrops vinslovii
Synonyms

Archaeobelus Cope, 1877

Clepsydrops was a primitive amniote from the early Late Carboniferous that was related to Archaeothyris and the synapsids—the ancestors of mammals. Like many other terrestrial early amniotes, it probably had the diet of insects and smaller animals. It probably also laid eggs on land rather than in the water, as most of its ancestors did. A paleobiological inference model for the femur[1] likewise suggests a terrestrial lifestyle for Clepsydrops, as for its more recent relative Ophiacodon,[2] which is consistent with its rather thin, compact cortex. Its jaws were slightly more advanced than those of Paleothyris and Hylonomus.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Quémeneur, S.; de Buffrénil, V.; Laurin, M. (2013). "Microanatomy of the amniote femur and inference of lifestyle in limbed vertebrates". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 109 (3): 644–655. doi:10.1111/bij.12066.
  2. ↑ Laurin, M.; de Buffrénil, V. (2015). "Microstructural features of the femur in early ophiacodontids: A reappraisal of ancestral habitat use and lifestyle of amniotes". Comptes Rendus Palevol.


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