Abyssomedon

Abyssomedon
Temporal range: Early Permian, 289 Ma
Illustration of the holotype fossil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Parareptilia
Order: Procolophonomorpha
Family: Nyctiphruretidae
Genus: Abyssomedon
MacDougall & Reisz, 2014
Type species
Abyssomedon williamsi
MacDougall & Reisz, 2014

Abyssomedon (meaning "Guardian of the Abyss") is an extinct genus of a nyctiphruretid parareptile known from Early Permian (Artinskian age) fissure fills at Richards Spur in Comanche County, Oklahoma, south-central United States. It contains a single species, Abyssomedon williamsi, which represents oldest known nyctiphruretid species and the first to be discovered in North America.[1]

  1. ^ Mark J. MacDougall and Robert R. Reisz (2014). "The first record of a nyctiphruretid parareptile from the Early Permian of North America, with a discussion of parareptilian temporal fenestration". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 172 (3): 616–630. doi:10.1111/zoj.12180.