Bolosauridae
Extinct family of reptiles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bolosauridae is an extinct family of amniotes known from the latest Carboniferous (Gzhelian) or earliest Permian (Asselian) to the early Guadalupian epoch (latest Roadian stage) of North America, China, Germany, Russia and France.[1][2] The bolosaurids were unusual for their time period by being bipedal, the oldest known tetrapods to have been so. Their teeth suggest that they were herbivores. The bolosaurids were a rare group and died out without any known descendants.
| Bolosauridae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Life restoration of Belebey vegrandis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Amniota |
| Clade: | Sauropsida |
| Family: | †Bolosauridae Cope, 1878 |
Traditionally considered "parareptiles", a 2025 study suggests the Bolosauridae are instead a family of basal sauropsids outside of Neoreptilia.[3]
The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic position of the Bolosauridae, from Johannes Müller, Jin-Ling Li and Robert R. Reisz, 2008.[4]
