Millerettidae

Millerettidae is an extinct family of early stem-reptiles from the Middle Permian to the Late Permian period of South Africa and possibly Russia. Although they were interpreted as a group of 'parareptiles', recent anatomical studies and phylogenetic analyses have suggested that they are better interpreted as close relatives of the Neodiapsida as part of the larger clade Parapleurota. The millerettids were small insectivores and probably resembled modern lizards in appearance and lifestyle, even possessing a tympanum, or eardrum, on the side of their skull.

Millerettidae

X. A. Jenkins, R. B. J. Benson, D. P. Ford, C. Browning, V. Fernandez, E. Griffiths, J. Choiniere & B. R. Peecook · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ParapleurotaPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 5.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 259.857 Mya to 254.14 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 264.28 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Permian — about 27 of 27 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 27 occurrences264–264 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences264–263 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences263–263 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences263–263 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences263–262 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences262–262 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences261–261 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences261–260 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences260–260 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences260–259 Mya — about 1 occurrence259–259 Mya — about 1 occurrence259–259 Mya — about 1 occurrence259–258 Mya — about 1 occurrence258–258 Mya — about 1 occurrence258–257 Mya — about 1 occurrence257–257 Mya — about 1 occurrence257–256 Mya — about 1 occurrence256–256 Mya — about 1 occurrence256–255 Mya — about 1 occurrence255–255 Mya — about 1 occurrence255–255 Mya — about 1 occurrence255–254 Mya — about 1 occurrence254–254 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences253–253 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences253–252 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences252–252 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences259.857 Mya254.14 Mya264.8 Mya251.4 Mya

27 occurrences of Millerettidae on record, most of them in the Permian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

27 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

  • Balfour Formation · Beaufort GroupEastern Cape, Western Cape · ZA · 259.857–251.902 Mya15
  • Abrahamskraal Formation · Beaufort GroupNorthern Cape, Western Cape · ZA · 264.28–259.857 Mya6
  • Koonap Formation · Beaufort GroupEastern Cape · ZA · 264.28–259.857 Mya1
  • Middleton/Balfour Formation · Beaufort GroupEastern Cape · ZA · 259.857–254.14 Mya1
  • Teekloof Formation · Beaufort GroupWestern Cape · ZA · 259.857–254.14 Mya1
Balfour — 32.04°S, 24.22°EBalfour — 31.95°S, 23.77°EBalfour — 32.05°S, 24.29°EBalfour — 31.87°S, 24.55°EBalfour — 31.86°S, 24.44°EBalfour — 31.91°S, 23.89°EBalfour — 31.96°S, 24.57°EBalfour — 32.15°S, 23.89°EBalfour — 32.06°S, 24.19°EAbrahamskraal — 31.14°S, 22.38°EAbrahamskraal — 32.37°S, 22.00°EAbrahamskraal — 32.92°S, 21.74°EAbrahamskraal — 32.89°S, 21.87°EAbrahamskraal — 32.50°S, 22.30°EAbrahamskraal — 32.47°S, 21.77°EKoonap — 33.06°S, 26.39°EMiddleton/Balfour — 32.25°S, 24.53°ETeekloof — 31.91°S, 23.89°E

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The named rock units Millerettidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Millerettidae and its relatives

Permian

Where Millerettidae and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

36 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Millerettidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

12 references

Each of the 27 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Millerettidae

Credit
X. A. Jenkins, R. B. J. Benson, D. P. Ford, C. Browning, V. Fernandez, E. Griffiths, J. Choiniere & B. R. Peecook
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Millerettidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itParapleurota through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Romer 1956