A new procolophonid from the Triassic Katberg Formation (Karoo Basin, South Africa) fills a key gap in post-extinction procolophonid recovery

The Lower Triassic Katberg Formation of the South African Karoo Basin preserves one of the most important records of early procolophonid diversification, yet no new taxon has been described from this unit in nearly two decades. Here we describe <i>Pentacolophon winterbergensis</i> gen. et sp. nov., a new procolophonid represented by an almost complete skull associated with partial postcranial remains from the lower–middle Katberg Formation.

Phylogenetic analyses recovered <i>Pentacolophon</i> within Procolophonidae, although its precise relationships remain weakly resolved under parsimony. Bayesian tip-dating analyses recovered the new taxon close to <i>Phonodus</i> and represent the first application of Bayesian divergence-time estimation to Procolophonidae. Divergence estimates suggest that several major procolophonid lineages originated during the late Permian to earliest Triassic, although confidence intervals remain broad.