Owenetta
Name: Owenetta
(Owen’s little one).
Phonetic: O-wen-et-ta.
Named By: Robert Broom - 1939.
Classification: Chordata, Sauropsida,
Parareptilia, Procolophonomorpha, Procolophonia, Owenettidae.
Species: O. rubidgei (type).
Diet: Insectivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of post cranial remains.
Known locations: South Africa, Karoo basin.
Time period: Wuchiapingian to Changhsingian of the
Permian.
Fossil representation: Several skulls.
As
a procolophonian parareptile, Owenetta is a
basal member of the
group that is confirmed to have lived at the end of the Permian.
However the full temporal range of Owenetta may in
fact extend further
than this into the early Triassic, although this is a matter of
contention. For a while a second species named O.
kitchingorum
existed that seemed to confirm this extension into the Triassic.
However further study of the second species has resulted in its
placement of a new genus, and as such the temporal range for Owenetta
was reduced back into the Permian. New material however has again
raised the possibility that Owenetta may actually
have survived the
Permian extinction and lived during the Early Triassic.
The
skulls of Owenetta are often used for comparison
with other early
parareptiles to try and produce a more complete picture of early
reptile evolution. However more study and new fossils have resulted
in Owenetta’s position in parareptile lineage often
changing.
Further reading
- A New Type of Cotylosaurian, Owenetta rubidgei. - Annals of the
Transvaal Museum 19(3):319-321. - R. Broom - 1939.
- Owenetta in perspective. - Palaeontologica Africana 20:115–118. - C.
E. Gow - 1977.
- Owenetta and the origin of turtles. - Nature 349:324-326. - R. R.
Reisz & M. Laurin - 1991.
- Owenetta kitchingorum, sp. nov., a small parareptile (Procolophonia:
Owenettidae) from the Lower Triassic of South Africa. - Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 22(2):244-256. - R. R. Reisz & D. Scott
- 2002.
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