Cabarzia

Cabarzia
Temporal range: Asselian–Sakmarian
Illustration of the holotype fossil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Family: Varanopidae
Subfamily: Mycterosaurinae
Genus: Cabarzia
Spindler, Werneberg, & Schneider, 2019
Type species
Cabarzia trostheidei
Spindler, Werneberg, & Schneider, 2019

Cabarzia is an extinct genus of varanopid from the Early Permian of Germany. It contains only a single species, Cabarzia trostheidei, which is based on a well-preserved skeleton found in red beds of the Goldlauter Formation. Cabarzia shared many similarities with Mesenosaurus romeri (a varanopid from Russia), although it did retain some differences, such as more curved claws, a wide ulnare, and muscle scars on its sacral ribs. With long, slender hindlimbs, a narrow body, an elongated tail, and short, thick forelimbs, Cabarzia was likely capable of running bipedally to escape from predators, a behavior shared by some modern lizards. It is the oldest animal known to have adaptations for bipedal locomotion, predating Eudibamus, a bipedal bolosaurid parareptile from the slightly younger Tambach Formation.[1]

  1. ^ Spindler, Frederik; Werneburg, Ralf; Schneider, Jörg W. (2019-06-01). "A new mesenosaurine from the lower Permian of Germany and the postcrania of Mesenosaurus: implications for early amniote comparative osteology". PalZ. 93 (2): 303–344. doi:10.1007/s12542-018-0439-z. ISSN 1867-6812. S2CID 91871872.