Procolophon Temporal range:Early Triassic PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Procolophon pricei from the Early Triassic of South Africa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	†Parareptilia
Order:	†Procolophonomorpha
Family:	†Procolophonidae
Subfamily:	†Procolophoninae
Genus:	†Procolophon Owen 1876
Type species
Procolophon trigoniceps Owen 1876
Species
P. trigonicepsOwen 1876 (type)
Synonyms[1]
Procolophon minorOwen, 1876 Procolophon griersoniSeeley, 1878 Procolophon cuneicepsSeeley, 1878 Procolophon laticepsSeeley, 1878 Procolophon platyrhinusSeeley, 1905 Procolophon sphenorhinusSeeley, 1905 Procolophon bainiBroom, 1905 Procolophonoides bainiIvachnenko, 1979 Procolophon priceiLavina, 1983 Procolophon brasiliensisCisneros & Schultz, 2002

Procolophon (fromGreek:πρόpró, 'before' andGreek:κολοφώνkolophṓn, 'summit')^[2] is agenus of lizard-likeprocolophonidparareptiles that first appeared in theEarly Triassic (Induan) ofSouth Africa,Brazil, andAntarctica. It persisted through thePermian–Triassic extinction event, but went extinct in the beginning of theEarly Middle Triassic. Thetype species isP. trigoniceps.^[3]

The firstProcolophon fossil was discovered in the 1870s in Donnybrook, an area southwest ofPietermaritzburg in present-dayKwa-Zulu Natal ofSouth Africa. Thefossil was accessioned toHarry Seeley, who described thefossil in 1878.^[4] Numerous other fossils have been recovered since from localities across theEastern Cape andFree State provinces ofSouth Africa.^[5][6][7][8]

Procolophon reached a length up to 30 centimetres (12 in), and is considered to have been a smallherbivore orinsectivore. The skull ofProcolophon is distinct because of its latero-posteriorly facing paired cheek spikes, along with spiked dermalossicles. Paleontologists debate the function of the cheek spikes. Some paleontologists posit that the bony protrusions were points for muscle attachments.Procolophon also had large eyes, and may have had acute night vision. Its teeth were peg-like and suitable for crushing plant matter. The front of theskull was short and blunt with the nasal opening very close to the mouth.^[9][10]

Procolophon is abasal member ofProcolophonidae, aclade ofparareptiles that are closely related to larger, morederived parareptiles such as thepareiasaur,Bradysaurus.Procolophonids are also related tomesosaurids andmillerettids.Procolophon was considered to share asister-taxon relationship withTichvinskia, aprocolophonid from the lowerTriassic ofRussia.^[11]

Thecladogram below follows aphylogenetic analysis by Modesto and Damiani (2007) in whichProcolophon is defined inpolytomy withThelerpeton andLeptopleuroninae:^[12]

In theirphylogenetic analyses, Butleret al. (2023) definedProcolophon as a sister taxon toTeratophon andThelerpeton or only toTeratophon withinProcolophoninae. The results are shown in two cladograms below:^[13]

Procolophon occupied a wide geographic range. Fossils of the genus were found in theLystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of theKatberg andNormandien Formations of South Africa, to theSanga do Cabral Formation of theParaná Basin in easternBrazil,^[14][15][16] to theFremouw Formation of theTransantarctic Mountains.^[17] Numeroussubspecies andsister taxa are also found in the lowerTriassic (Induan) ofGermany,North America, andRussia.^[18][19]

• Juan Carlos Cisneros (2008)."Taxonomic status of the reptile genusProcolophon from the Gondwanan Triassic".Palaeontologia Africana.43:7–17.ISSN 0078-8554.Archived from the original on 2024-02-14.

• Procolophoninae
• Permian reptiles
• Triassic parareptiles
• Lopingian first appearances
• Late Triassic extinctions
• Late Triassic reptiles of Africa
• Triassic South Africa
• Fossils of South Africa
• Beaufort Group
• Prehistoric reptiles of Antarctica
• Triassic Antarctica
• Fossils of Antarctica
• Triassic reptiles of South America
• Triassic Brazil
• Fossils of Brazil
• Paraná Basin
• Fossil taxa described in 1876
• Taxa named by Richard Owen
• Prehistoric reptile genera

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with 'species' microformats
• Articles containing Greek-language text