Paraburnetia

Paraburnetia
Temporal range: Late Permian
Life restoration of Paraburnetia sneeubergensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Biarmosuchia
Family: †Burnetiidae
Genus: †Paraburnetia
Smith et al., 2006
Species:
†P. sneeubergensis
Binomial name
†Paraburnetia sneeubergensis
Smith et al., 2006

Paraburnetia is an extinct genus of biarmosuchian therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa. It is known for its species P. sneeubergensis and belongs to the family Burnetiidae.[1] Paraburnetia lived just before the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event.

The etymology of Paraburnetia sneeubergensis comes from para, meaning beside or near; Burnetia indicating the first named member of the clade; and sneeubergensis for the location the Sneeuberge mountains above where the specimen was found.[1]

P. sneeubergensis is known by its knobby skull,[1] which is a shared synapomorphy with B. mirabilis[2] and P. viatkensis[3] They are synapsids, from which, their clade of therapsids is derived from.[4] Descending from one of the first therapsids, biarmosuchus, Paraburnetia evolved prominent canine teeth, a long zygomatic process that extends under the orbit, and shorter phalanges with fewer joints that the lizard-like pelycosaurs.[4] They were small to medium in sized carnivores.[4] Burnetiamorphs distinguished themselves from the basal forms of Biarmosuchians by developing bumpy knobs on their skulls, specifically towards the posterior of the skull and on the nasal.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Smith, R.M.H.; Rubidge, B.S.; Sidor, C.A. (2006). "A new burnetiid (Therapsida: Biarmosuchia) from the Upper Permian of South Africa and its biogeographic implications". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 26 (2): 331–343. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[331:ANBTBF]2.0.CO;2.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Tatarinov, L. P. 1968. Novye teriodonty iz verknei Permi SSSR (New theriodonts from the Upper Permian of the USSR); pp. 32–46 in Verkhnepaleozoiskie i Mezsozoiskie zemnovodyne i presmykayushchiesya SSSR (Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic Amphibians and Reptiles of the USSR), Nauka, Moscow. [Russian]
  4. ^ a b c d Rubidge, B., & Sidor, C. (2001). Evolutionary patterns among Permo-Triassic therapsids. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 32, 449.