| Anteosaurus Temporal range: Capitanian,
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| A. magnificus skull (SAM-PK-11296) on display at the Iziko Museum in Cape Town, South Africa | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Dinocephalia |
| Family: | †Anteosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Anteosaurinae |
| Clade: | †Anteosaurini |
| Genus: | †Anteosaurus Watson, 1921 |
| Species: | †A. magnificus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Anteosaurus magnificus Watson, 1921
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| Synonyms | |
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Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
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Anteosaurus (meaning "Antaeus lizard") is an extinct genus of large carnivorous dinocephalian synapsid. It lived at the end of the Guadalupian (= Middle Permian) during the Capitanian age, about 265 to 260 million years ago in what is now South Africa. It is mainly known by cranial remains and few postcranial bones. Measuring 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long and weighing about 600 kg (1,300 lb), Anteosaurus was the largest known carnivorous non-mammalian synapsid and the largest terrestrial predator of the Permian period. Occupying the top of the food chain in the Middle Permian, its skull, jaws and teeth show adaptations to capture large prey like the giants titanosuchids and tapinocephalids dinocephalians and large pareiasaurs.
As in many other dinocephalians the cranial bones of Anteosaurus are pachyostosed, but to a lesser extent than in tapinocephalid dinocephalians. In Anteosaurus, pachyostosis mainly occurs in the form of horn-shaped supraorbital protuberances. According to some paleontologists this structure would be implicated in intraspecific agonistic behaviour, including head-pushing probably during the mating season. On the contrary, other scientists believe that this pachyostosis served to reduce cranial stress on the bones of the skull when biting massive prey.
Young Anteosaurus started their life with fairly narrow and lean skulls, and as it grew up bones of the skull became progressively thickened (process known as pachyostosis), creating the characteristic robust skull roof of Anteosaurus. The study of its inner ear revealed that Anteosaurus was a largely terrestrial, agile predator with highly advanced senses of vision, balance and coordination. It was also very fast and would have been able to outrun competitors and prey alike thanks to its advanced adaptations. Its body was well-suited to projecting itself forward, both in hunting and evidently in head-butting.
Anteosaurus and all other dinocephalians became extinct about 260 million years ago in a mass extinction at the end of the Capitanian in which the large Bradysaurian pareiasaurs also disappeared.[1] The reasons of this extinction are obscure, although some research have shown a temporal association between the extinction of dinocephalian and an important volcanism event in China (known as the Emeishan Traps).[2][1]
- ^ a b Day, M.O.; Rubidge, B.S. (2021). "The Late Capitanian Mass Extinction of Terrestrial Vertebrates in the Karoo Basin of South Africa". Frontiers in Earth Science. 9: 15. Bibcode:2021FrEaS...9...15D. doi:10.3389/feart.2021.631198.
- ^ Day, M.O.; Ramezani, J.; Bowring, S.A.; Sadler, P.M.; Erwin, D.H.; Abdala, F.; Rubidge, B.S. (2015). "When and how did the terrestrial mid-Permian mass extinction occur? Evidence from the tetrapod record of the Karoo Basin, South Africa". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 282 (1811): 20150834. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.0834. PMC 4528552. PMID 26156768.