2026-10-07T19:01:36Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33965985 2026-09-22T15:21:09Z category_14 category_24 category_272 category_39 category_734 portal_87 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

A new procolophonid from the Triassic Katberg Formation (Karoo Basin, South Africa) fills a key gap in post-extinction procolophonid recovery Felipe L. Pinheiro (8689797) Juan C. Cisneros (10754492) João Lucas da Silva (25090698) Karine Pohlmann (25090701) Pia Viglietti (25090704) Roger Smith (10569) Molecular Biology Evolutionary Biology Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Ecology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Bayesian phylogenetics biostratigraphy Early Triassic Karoo Basin Procolophonidae <p>Procolophonidae was one of the most successful parareptile clades during the Triassic, becoming widespread across Pangea in the aftermath of the End-Permian Mass Extinction (EPME). The Lower Triassic Katberg Formation of the South African Karoo Basin preserves one of the most important records of early procolophonid diversification, yet no new taxon has been described from this unit in nearly two decades. Here we describe <i>Pentacolophon winterbergensis</i> gen. et sp. nov., a new procolophonid represented by an almost complete skull associated with partial postcranial remains from the lower–middle Katberg Formation. Phylogenetic analyses recovered <i>Pentacolophon</i> within Procolophonidae, although its precise relationships remain weakly resolved under parsimony. Bayesian tip-dating analyses recovered the new taxon close to <i>Phonodus</i> and represent the first application of Bayesian divergence-time estimation to Procolophonidae. Divergence estimates suggest that several major procolophonid lineages originated during the late Permian to earliest Triassic, although confidence intervals remain broad. The occurrence of <i>Pentacolophon winterbergensis</i> in the middle Katberg Formation partially fills an important stratigraphical gap in the procolophonid record of the Karoo Basin and highlights the importance of this clade in Early Triassic terrestrial communities.</p> <p><a target="_blank" href="https://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:15D3E54A-A349-45F0-9870-8CC088F9943C">https://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:15D3E54A-A349-45F0-9870-8CC088F9943C</a></p> 2026-09-22T15:21:09Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.33965985.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/A_new_procolophonid_from_the_Triassic_Katberg_Formation_Karoo_Basin_South_Africa_fills_a_key_gap_in_post-extinction_procolophonid_recovery/33965985 CC BY 4.0