Moschops

Moschops Temporal range: Capitanian, 265–260 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Mounted skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Suborder:	†Dinocephalia
Family:	†Tapinocephalidae
Subtribe:	†Moschopina
Genus:	†Moschops Broom, 1911
Type species
†Moschops capensis Broom, 1911
Species
†M. capensis Broom, 1911 †M. koupensis Boonstra, 1957 †M. oweni? (Watson, 1914) †M. whaitsi? (Broom, 1914)
Synonyms
Agnosaurus Boonstra, 1952 Avenantia Boonstra, 1952 Delphinognathus Seeley, 1892 Moschoides Byrne, 1937 Pnigalion Watson, 1914

Moschops (Greek for "calf face") is an extinct genus of therapsids that lived in the Guadalupian epoch, around 265–260 million years ago. They were heavily built plant eaters, and they may have lived partly in water, as hippopotamuses do. They had short, thick heads and might have competed by head-butting each other. Their elbow joints allowed them to walk with a more mammal-like gait rather than crawling. Their remains were found in the Karoo region of South Africa, belonging to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone. Therapsids, such as Moschops, are synapsids, the dominant land animals in the Permian period, which ended 252 million years ago.