Bradysaurus

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Bradysaurus Temporal range: Capitanian, 265–260 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skeleton in the Field Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	†Parareptilia
Order:	†Procolophonomorpha
Clade:	†Pareiasauria
Family:	†Pareiasauridae
Subfamily:	†Bradysaurinae von Huene, 1948
Genus:	†Bradysaurus Watson, 1914
Type species
†Bradysaurus baini Seeley, 1892
Species
†B. baini Seeley, 1892 †B. seeleyi Haughton and Boonstra, 1929
Synonyms
Bradysaurus broomi Haughton and Boonstra, 1929 Bradysaurus vanderbyli Haughton and Boonstra, 1929 Pareiasaurus baini Pareiasaurus baini Seeley, 1892 Platyoropha broom Haughton and Boonstra, 1929

Bradysaurus was a large, early and common pareiasaur. They possessed a covering of armoured scutes, likely serving as defense against their main predators, the gorgonopsians.

Fossils of Bradysaurus are known from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (Capitanian age) of the South African Karoo. Along with the similarly large dinocephalia, the bradysaurs constituted the herbivorous megafauna of the late Middle Permian Period.