Anteosaurinae

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Anteosaurinae
Temporal range: Middle Permian, 270–260  Ma
Titanophoneus potens (fossil).jpg
Skeleton of the anteosaurine Titanophoneus potens
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Family: Anteosauridae
Subfamily: Anteosaurinae
Boonstra, 1954
Subgroups

Anteosaurinae is an extinct subfamily of dinocephalian therapsids. It is one of two subfamilies in the family Anteosauridae, the other being Syodontinae. [1]

Contents

Description

Doliosauriscus Doliosauriscus1DB.jpg
Doliosauriscus

These are very specialized, very large anteosaurs. The postcanine teeth are further reduced. Deepening of the postorbital region of the skull (behind the eyes) produced a larger temporal opening, indicating more muscle mass. The boss on the angular (rear of the jaw) has become very prominent, again, another sign of powerful jaw muscles. These huge animals were formidable predators.

In the Anteosaurinae, pachyostosis is taken to extremes. The dorsal (upper) surface of the nasal, frontal, and postfrontals (around and between/above the eyes) is thickened and rugose in the same manner as the tapinocephalids. Nevertheless, these animals are too specialized and too late to have been the ancestors of the herbivorous tapinocephalids, so these characteristics evolved independently.

Boonstra notes that the hip joint and the femur of Anteosaurus are comparable with those of the crocodile and that these animals may have had a crawling habit. Because of the carnivorous dentition, he believes them to have been slinking predators.

Classification

Below is a cladogram showing syodontine relationships from a 2012 phylogenetic study of anteosaurians: [2]

Therapsida

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinocephalia</span> Extinct clade of stem-mammals

Dinocephalians 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), but became extinct during the Capitanian mass extinction event. Dinocephalians included herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous forms. Many species had thickened skulls with many knobs and bony projections. Dinocephalians were the first non-mammalian therapsids to be scientifically described and their fossils are known from Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania.

<i>Jonkeria</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

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<i>Titanophoneus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Titanophoneus is an extinct genus of carnivorous dinocephalian therapsid from the Middle Permian. It is classified within the family Anteosauridae. The type species is Titanophoneus potens. Remains of Titanophoneus have been found at Isheevo, Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anteosaur</span> Extinct clade of therapsids

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Anteosauridae is an extinct family of large carnivorous dinocephalian therapsids that are known from the Middle Permian of Asia, Africa, and South America.These animals were by far the largest predators of the Permian period, with skulls reaching 80 cm in length in adult individuals, far larger than the biggest gorgonopsian.

<i>Anteosaurus</i> Extinct genus of anteosaurid synapsid from the Permian

Anteosaurus is an extinct genus of large carnivorous dinocephalian synapsid. It lived at the end of the Guadalupian during the Capitanian stage, about 265 to 260 million years ago in what is now South Africa. It is mainly known by cranial remains and few postcranial bones. Measuring 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long and weighing about 600 kg (1,300 lb), Anteosaurus was the largest known carnivorous non-mammalian synapsid and the largest terrestrial predator of the Permian period. Occupying the top of the food chain in the Middle Permian, its skull, jaws and teeth show adaptations to capture large prey like the giants titanosuchids and tapinocephalids dinocephalians and large pareiasaurs.

<i>Tapinocephalus</i> Assemblage Zone

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<i>Struthiocephalus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

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<i>Tapinocaninus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Tapinocaninus is an extinct genus of therapsids in the family Tapinocephalidae, of which it is the most basal member. Only one species is known, Tapinocaninus pamelae. The species is named in honor of Rubidge's mother, Pam. Fossils have been found dating from the Middle Permian.

<i>Australosyodon</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Australosyodon is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsids from the middle Permian of South Africa. The first fossil was discovered in the 1980s near the village of Prince Albert Road in the Karoo region of South Africa.

<i>Styracocephalus</i>

Styracocephalus platyrhynchus is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsid that existed during the mid-Permian throughout South Africa, but mainly in the Karoo Basin. It is often referred to by its single known species Styracocephalus platyrhynchus. The Dinocephalia clade consisted of the largest land vertebrates and herbivores during the early to mid-Permian. This period is often also referred to as the Guadalupian epoch, approximately 270 to 260 million years ago.

<i>Criocephalosaurus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Criocephalosaurus is an extinct genus of tapinocephalian therapsids that lived in Southern Africa during the Guadalupian epoch of the Permian. They are the latest surviving dinocephalians, extending past the Abrahamskraal Formation into the lowermost Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation in South Africa. They are also regarded as the most derived of the dinocephalians, alongside Tapinocephalus, and the most abundant in the fossil record.

<i>Pampaphoneus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Pampaphoneus is an extinct genus of carnivorous dinocephalian therapsid belonging to the family Anteosauridae. It lived 268 to 265 million years ago during the Wordian age of the Guadalupian period in what is now Brazil. Pampaphoneus is known by an almost complete skull with the lower jaw still articulated, discovered on the lands of the Boqueirão Farm, near the city of São Gabriel, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. A second specimen from the same locality was reported in 2019 and 2020 but has not yet been described. It is composed of a skull associated with postcranial remains. It is the first South American species of dinocephalian to have been described. The group was previously known in South America only by a few isolated teeth and a jaw fragment reported in 2000 in the same region of Brazil. Phylogenetic analysis conducted by Cisneros and colleagues reveals that Pampaphoneus is closely related to anteosaurs from European Russia, indicating a closer faunal relationship between South America and Eastern Europe than previously thought, thus promoting a Pangea B continental reconstruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syodontinae</span> Extinct subfamily of mammal ancestors

Syodontinae is a group of dinocephalian therapsids. It is one of two subfamilies in the family Anteosauridae, the other being Anteosaurinae. They are known from the Middle Permian Period of what is now Russia and South Africa. One of the best known syodontines is Syodon from Russia. The South African form Australosyodon, is one of the earliest known Gondwanan anteosaurs.

<i>Aegisuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Aegisuchus is an extinct monospecific genus of giant, flat-headed crocodyliform within the family Aegyptosuchidae. It was found in the Kem Kem Formation of southeast Morocco, which dates back to the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch. The type species Aegisuchus witmeri was named in 2012 by paleontologists Casey Holliday and Nicholas Gardner, who nicknamed it "Shieldcroc" for the shield-like shape of its skull. A. witmeri is known from a single partial skull including the braincase and skull roof.

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Thylacosmilidae is an extinct family of metatherian predators, related to the modern marsupials, which lived in South America between the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Like other South American mammalian predators that lived prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange, these animals belonged to the order Sparassodonta, which occupied the ecological niche of many eutherian mammals of the order Carnivora from other continents. The family's most notable feature are the elongated, laterally flattened fangs, which is a remarkable evolutionary convergence with other saber-toothed mammals like Barbourofelis and Smilodon.

<i>Kerberos langebadreae</i> Extinct animal

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References

  1. Kammerer, C.F. (2011). "Systematics of the Anteosauria (Therapsida: Dinocephalia)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (2): 261–304. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.492645. S2CID   84799772.
  2. Cisneros, J.C.; Abdala, F.; Atayman-Güven, S.; Rubidge, B.S.; Şengör, A.M.C.; Schultz, C.L. (2012). "Carnivorous dinocephalian from the Middle Permian of Brazil and tetrapod dispersal in Pangaea". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109 (5): 1584–1588. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1115975109 . PMC   3277192 . PMID   22307615.