OWENETTA KITCHINGORUM, SP. NOV., A SMALL PARAREPTILE (PROCOLOPHONIA: OWENETTIDAE) FROM THE LOWER TRIASSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Robert R. Reisz and Diane Scott, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2002, 22(2):244–256
The parareptile Owenetta rubidgei is known from several skulls, all found in Upper Permian sediments of South Africa. The anatomy of a new species of Owenetta. O. kitchingorum, from the Early Triassic is described here on the basis of three nearly complete skeletons. This new species is distinguished from O. rubidgei on the basis of three dental and three cranial features. Postcranial features cannot be used in the diagnosis because the postcranial anatomy of O. rubidgei is unknown. The small parareptile Barasamus front the Late Permian of Madagascar and Owenetta are united in the clade Owenettidae, as the sister-taxon of Procolophoindae. Controversies surrounding parareptilian phylogeny are discussed as they relate to Owenetta.