Diictodon

Diictodon
Temporal range: Capitanian (Guadalupian)[1] – Lopingian (Changhsingian),[2] 262–252 Ma
Adult males with distorted skull
Undistorted skull of Diictodon in top view (left) and side view (right) scale bar = 1 cm
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Anomodontia
Clade: †Dicynodontia
Family: †Pylaecephalidae
Genus: †Diictodon
Owen 1876
Species[3][4]
Synonyms

Diictodon is an extinct genus of pylaecephalid dicynodont[5] that lived during the Late Permian period, approximately 255 million years ago. Fossils have been found in the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Madumabisa Mudstone of the Luangwa Basin in Zambia and the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone of the Teekloof Formation, Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Abrahamskraal Formation, Dicynodon Assemblage Zone of the Balfour Formation, Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Middleton or Balfour Formation of South Africa and the Guodikeng Formation of China.[6] Roughly half of all Permian vertebrate specimens found in South Africa are those of Diictodon. This small herbivorous animal was one of the most successful synapsids in the Permian period.[7]

  1. ^ M.O. Day, B.S. Rubidge; Biostratigraphy of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 2020;; 123 (2): 149–164. doi: https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.123.0012
  2. ^ P.A. Viglietti; Biostratigraphy of the Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 2020;; 123 (2): 191–206. doi: https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.123.0014
  3. ^ a b c d e Sullivan, C., & Reisz, R. R. (2005). CRANIAL ANATOMY AND TAXONOMY OF THE LATE PERMIAN DICYNODONT DIICTODON. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 74(1), 45–75.
  4. ^ Angielczyk, K. D., & Sullivan, C. (2008). Diictodon feliceps(Owen, 1876), a dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) species with a Pangaean distribution. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28(3), 788–802.
  5. ^ Kammerer, C.F.; Angielczyk, K.D. (2009). "A proposed higher taxonomy of anomodont therapsids" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2018: 1–24.
  6. ^ Diictodon at Fossilworks.org
  7. ^ Sullivan, C., Reisz, R. R., & Smith, R. M. H. (2003). The Permian mammal-like herbivoreDiictodon, the oldest known example of sexually dimorphic armament. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 270(1511), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2189.