Suminia

Suminia
Temporal range: Late Permian, 268–252 Ma
Fossil skeleton, Royal Ontario Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Anomodontia
Genus: †Suminia
Ivachnenko, 1994[1]
Species:
†S. getmanovi
Binomial name
†Suminia getmanovi
Ivachnenko, 1994

Suminia is an extinct genus of basal anomodont that lived during the Tatarian age of the late Permian, spanning approximately from 268-252 Ma.[2] Suminia is recognized the youngest non-dicynodont anomodont.[1] Its fossil localities are primarily derived from the Kotel’nich locality of the Kirov Oblast in Russia. However, there have been some isolated specimen found in a few different localities, all from eastern European regions of Russia.[3]

Suminia, along with Otsheria and Ulemica make up the monophyletic group of Russian basal anomodonts named Venyukovioidea.[4] These Venyukovioid anomodonts are understood to have been derived from an ancestor that dispersed from Gondwana into Euramerica.[5] Suminia getmanovi is the only defined species within the genus and it is known for specializations in teeth for effective, functional oral processing of plant material as well as being one of the first species with a proposed arboreal lifestyle.[6]

  1. ^ a b Ivachnenko MF. 1994. A new Late Permian dromasaurian (Anomodontia) from Eastern Europe. Paleontological Journal 28: 96- 103.
  2. ^ Rybczynski N. 2000. Cranial anatomy and phylogenetic position of Suminia getmanovi, a basal anomodont (Amniota: Therapsida) from the Late Permian of Eastern Europe. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 130:329–73
  3. ^ Fröbisch, J. and Reisz, R. R. 2011. The postcranial anatomy of Suminia getmanovi (Synapsida: Anomodontia), the earliest known arboreal tetrapod. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 162: 661–698.
  4. ^ Modesto, S. & B. Rubidge (2000) A basal anomodont therapsid from the lower Beaufort Group, Upper Permian of South Africa, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:3, 515-521.
  5. ^ Modesto, S. P., B. S. Rubidge, and J. Welman. 1999. The most basal anomodont therapsid and the primacy of Gondwana in the evolution of the anomodonts. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266:331–337.
  6. ^ Fröbisch, J. and Reisz, R. R. 2009. The Late Permian herbivore Suminia and the early evolution of arboreality in terrestrial vertebrate ecosystems. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276: 3611–3618.