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'''Petrolacosaurus''' was a small, 40 centimeter long, diapsid reptile, one of the earliest known. It lived during the late Carboniferous period. The prehistoric reptile's diet may have consisted mainly of small insects. It lived along side several species of giant arthropods, like giant Mesothelae spiders, and ''Meganeura'', a giant dragonfly, as well as anthracosaur amphibians like ''Proterogyrinus''. ''Petrolacosaurus'' had distinctive canine-like secondary-sized teeth, a trait found primarily in therapsids and later mammals.

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In popular culture

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In popular culture

''Petrolacosaurus'' was featured in the BBC television show Walking with Monsters. As well as claiming that it was the ancestral synapsid, the program states that its heart was the template for our own, even though the anatomy of ''Petrolacosaurus's organs and other soft tissue is completely unknown.
However, because it was a primitive diapsid, it was not the common ancestor of either ''Dimetrodon'', or ''Edaphosaurus''. Both reptiles and Synapsids had a common ancestor. The ancestor of ''Dimetrodon'' was probably ''Haptodus'', a primitive synapsid from 300 million years ago to 280 million years ago. ''Petrolacosaurus'' was a typical, albeit primitive, diapsid, having two openings ("temporal fenestrae") on each side of its skull to add attachment points for jaw muscles. ''Haptodus'' had one hole behind each eye socket, called the temporal fenestra.
In Rupert Olivers' book, ''Dimetrodon'', made in the late 1980s, ''Petrolacosaurus'' made an appearance at the beginning of the book. It was then frightened by ''Dimetrodon'', the main character, and then fled.

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