Nycteroleter affinities of a Permian parareptile from the South African Karoo Basin

The Middle Permian Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in South Africa has produced a rich record of tetrapods dominated by dinocephalian therapsids and pareiasaurid parareptiles. In this study we reassess the affinities of a specimen from this horizon previously identified as a procolophonoid and provide evidence that it is instead referable to a nycteroleter parareptile, an identification that is more compatible with the age of this fossil. Accordingly, this specimen represents the first record of a nycteroleter in Gondwana.