the orbit, completely surrounded by the jugal, quadratojugal, postorbital and squamosal. Other parareptiles with lateral temporal fenestrae (apart from lanthanosuchids) typically exclude the postorbital from its edge through contact between the jugal and squamosal, or have an open lower edge due to a loss of contact between the jugal and quadratojugal. The postfrontal is uniquely elongated, as its rear branch contacts the boxy supratemporal bone and separates the postorbital from the parietal. The pineal foramen is large, similar in size to that of procolophonids and bolosaurids. The quadrates are massive, being quite broad but also not very tall as in Acleistorhinus. Minor ornamentation is present on several bones, including broad grooves (on the nasal), shallow pits (on the jugal), clusters of knobs and furrows (on the postorbital), and low mounds (on the squamosal). The vomers possess an array of ridges, the largest being at the edge of the choanae. There are also teeth in small rows or solitary positions on the vomers. The palatines are characteristically large, possessing several low ridges covered with small teeth. The pterygoids were notably broad, owing to extensive contact with each other along the midline of the palate. As a consequence, the interpterygoid vacuity (gap between the pterygoids) is short, restricted to a triangular opening in front of the parabasisphenoid. Tooth rows occur along the inner edge of the pterygoids, on the main underside of the bones, and at the transverse flanges at their rear. The branches of the pterygoids leading to the quadrates are offset from the transverse flanges by a distinct notch. Overall the palate most closely resembles that of Lanthanosuchus. Uniquely, Australothyris even possesses patches of teeth on the basipterygoid processes of the parabasisphenoid. The rest of the braincase was fairly typical. The basioccipital was broad, with poorly-develeloped basitubera and kidney-shaped occipital condyle, and the exoccipitals do not meet at the midline of the foramen magnum. The supraoccipital was also broad and fused with the opisthotics in its lower portion, while the upper portion of the bone was overlapped by the small postparietal and tabular bones of the skull roof. The opisthotics were thickest at the base and generally similar to those of Milleretta. They each connected to a thick yet complex stapes which possessed a conspicuous footplate, stapedial foramen, and a dorsal process. A knob on the outer edge of the stapes likely connected to a characteristic spur on the quadrate.