Heleosaurus
Name:
Heleosaurus
Hel-e-o-sore-us.
Phonetic: Robert Broom - 1908.
Named By: Robert Broom - 1908.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Eupelycosauria, Varanopidae, Mycterosaurinae.
Species: H. scholtzi (type).
Diet: Carnivore/insectivore.
Size: About 50 centimetres long.
Known locations: South Africa - Abrahamskraal
Formation.
Time period: Capitanian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Originally thought to be a diapsid reptile, Heleosaurus was later realised to be a varanopid pelycosaur. Heleosaurus would have been a predator of other small animals.
Further reading
- On Some New Fossil Reptiles from the Karroo Beds of Victoria West,
South Africa. Transactions of the South African Philosophical
Society 18:31-42- Robert Broom - 1908.
- Heleosaurus scholtzi from the Permian of South
Africa: a
varanopid synapsid, not a diapsid reptile. - Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (3): 734-739. - R. R. Reisz
& S. P. Modesto - 2007.
- Anatomy and Relationships of the Middle Permian Varanopid Heleosaurus
scholtzi Based on a Social Aggregation from the Karoo Basin
of South
Africa. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29.2 (2009): 389-400. -
Jennifer Botha-Brink & Sean P. Modesto - 2009.
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