In Depth
Originally thought to be a diapsid reptile, Heleosaurus was later realised to be a varanopid pelycosaur. Heleosaurus would have been a predator of other small animals.
Further Reading
- On Some New Fossil Reptiles from the Karroo Beds of Victoria West, South Africa. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 18:31-42- Robert Broom - 1908. - Heleosaurus scholtzi from the Permian of South Africa: a varanopid synapsid, not a diapsid reptile. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (3): 734-739. - R. R. Reisz & S. P. Modesto - 2007. – Anatomy and Relationships of the Middle Permian Varanopid Heleosaurus scholtzi Based on a Social Aggregation from the Karoo Basin of South Africa. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29.2 (2009): 389-400. – Jennifer Botha-Brink & Sean P. Modesto – 2009.
