Dinocephalia

For other uses, see Dinocephalia (disambiguation).

Dinocephalia
Temporal range: Early - Middle Permian, 279.5–260 Ma
Restoration of two genera of dinocephalians : Titanophoneus (an anteosaur) devouring a Ulemosaurus (a tapinocephalian).
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Dinocephalia
Seeley, 1894
Subgroups

See Taxonomy

Dinocephalians (terrible heads) are a clade of large-bodied early therapsids that flourished in the Early and Middle Permian between 279.5 and 260 million years ago (Ma),[1][2] but became extinct during the Capitanian mass extinction event. Dinocephalians included herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous forms.[3] Many species had thickened skulls with many knobs and bony projections. Dinocephalians were the first non-mammalian therapsids to be scientifically described[4] and their fossils are known from Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania.[5][6]

  1. ^ Day, Michael O.; Guven, Saniye; Abdala, Fernando; Jirah, Sifelani; Rubidge, Bruce; Almond, John (2015). "Youngest dinocephalian fossils extend the Tapinocephalus Zone, Karoo Basin, South Africa". South African Journal of Science. 111: 1–5.
  2. ^ "Driveria". Fossilworks.
  3. ^ Nicolas, Merrill; Rubidge, Bruce S. (2010). "Changes in Permo-Triassic terrestrial tetrapod ecological representation in the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup) of South Africa". Lethaia. 43: 45–59. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00171.x.
  4. ^ Kammerer, Christian F. (13 December 2010). "Systematics of the Anteosauria (Therapsida: Dinocephalia)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (2): 261–304. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.492645.
  5. ^ Angielczyk, K.D. (2009). "Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur: Using tree thinking to understand the ancient relatives of mammals and their evolution". Evolution: Education and Outreach. 2 (2): 257–271. doi:10.1007/s12052-009-0117-4.
  6. ^ Simon, Rachel V.; Sidor, Christian A.; Angielczyk, Kenneth D.; Smith, Roger M.H. (2010). "First record of a Tempinocephalid (Therapsida: Dinocephalia) from the Ruhuhu Formation (Songea Group) of Southern Tanzania". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (4): 1289–1293. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.483549. S2CID 131447562.