| Australobarbarus Temporal range: Late Permian | |
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| Skeleton in Natural History Museum of Helsinki, Finland | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | † Dicynodontia |
| Family: | † Oudenodontidae |
| Genus: | † Australobarbarus Kurkin, 2000 |
| Species | |
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Australobarbarus is a genus of dicynodont from Late Permian (Wuchiapingian) of Russia. [1]
Dicynodontia is a taxon of anomodont therapsids with beginnings in the mid-Permian, which were dominant in the Late Permian, survived the Permian Extinction that wiped out most other therapsids and continued on throughout the Triassic before dying out at the end of the period. Dicynodonts were herbivorous animals with two tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. They are also the most successful and diverse of the non-mammalian therapsids, with over 70 genera known, varying from rat- to elephant-sized.
Anomodontia is an extinct group of non-mammalian therapsids containing many species from the Permian and Triassic periods, most of which were toothless, possibly endothermic herbivores. Anomodonts were very diverse during the Middle Permian, including primitive forms like Anomocephalus and Patranomodon and groups like Venyukovioidea, Dromasauria, and Dicynodontia. Of these, only the dicynodonts survived beyond the Middle Permian. Dicynodonts became the most successful and abundant of all herbivores in the Late Permian and Triassic, filling ecological niches ranging from large browsers down to small burrowers. Few dicynodont families survived the Permian–Triassic extinction event, but one lineage evolved into large, stocky forms that remained the dominant terrestrial herbivores right until the Late Triassic, when changing conditions caused them to decline.
Diictodon was a genus of pylaecephalid dicynodont. These mammal-like synapsids 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. 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.
Dicynodon is a genus of dicynodont therapsid that flourished during the Upper Permian period. Like all dicynodonts, it was herbivorous. This animal was toothless, except for prominent tusks, hence the name. It probably cropped vegetation with a horny beak, much like a tortoise, while the tusks may have been used for digging up roots and tubers.
Eodicynodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsids, a highly diverse group of herbivorous synapsids that were widespread during the middle-late Permian and early Triassic. As its name suggests, Eodicynodon is the oldest and most primitive dicynodont yet identified, ranging from the middle to late Permian and possessing a mix of ancestral Anomodont/therapsid features and derived dicynodont synapomorphies.
Endothiodon is an extinct genus of large dicynodont from the Late Permian. Like other dicynodonts, Endothiodon was an herbivore, but it lacked the two tusks that characterized most other dicynodonts. The anterior portion of the upper and lower jaw are curved upward, creating a distinct beak that is thought to have allowed them to be specialized grazers.
Odontocyclops : Greek: ondont-“tooth” Greek: kyklops- “round eye”, a kind of Greek mythological giant with one eye in the midline” =toothy cyclops. The Odontocyclops is an extinct genus of Dicynodonts that lived in the Late Permian. Dicynodonts are believed to be the first major assemblage of terrestrial herbivores. Fossils of Odontocyclops have been found in the Karoo Basin of South Arfrica and the Luangwa Valley of Zambia. The phylogenetic classification of Odontocyclops has been long under debate, but most current research places them as their own genus of Dicynodonts and being very closely related to Rhachiocephalus and Oudenodon.
Tetragonias is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsid from the Anisian Manda Beds of Tanzania. Tetra- means “four,” and goni- means “angle,” referencing the square shape of the Tetragonias skull when viewed dorsally. Not to be confused with Tetragonia,Tetragonias were dicynodont anomodonts discovered in the late 1960s by paleontologist A. R. I. Cruickshank in the Manda Formation.
Delectosaurus is a genus of dicynodont from Late Permian (Changhsingian) of Russia.
Idelesaurus is a genus of dicynodont from the Late Permian (Wuchiapingian) Ilinskoe Subassemblage of the Sokolki Assemblage Zone of Russia.
Katumbia is a genus of dicynodont from Late Permian (Changhsingian) of Tanzania.
Lystrosauridae is a family of dicynodont therapsids from the Permian and Triassic time periods. It includes two genera, Lystrosaurus and Kwazulusaurus. Kwazulusaurus includes a single species, K. shakai, from the Late Permian of South Africa and Lystrosaurus includes many species from the Late Permian and Early Triassic of South Africa, India, and Antarctica.
Elph is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsids from Russia. Four specimens have been found from the Sokolki Assemblage in European Russia, representing a fauna that dates back to the Late Permian. Elph was a small herbivore that lived alongside carnivorous akidnognathids and inostranceviids, as well as larger herbivores like Dicynodon and pareiasaurids. The type species E. borealis was named in 1999. Elph has a short snout and tusks and is closely related to Interpresosaurus and Katumbia.
Kannemeyeriiformes is a group of large-bodied Triassic dicynodonts. As a clade, Kannemeyeriiformes has been defined to include the species Kannemeyeria simocephalus and all dicynodonts more closely related to it than to the species Lystrosaurus murrayi.
Cistecephalidae is an extinct family of dicynodont therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa, India and Zambia. It includes the genera Cistecephalus, Cistecephaloides, and Kawingasaurus. Cistecephalids are thought to have had a fossorial or burrowing lifestyle, with adaptations such as broad skulls, strong forelimbs, and squat bodies. A similar group of dicynodonts called the pylaecephalids were also fossorial, although to a lesser extent than cistecephalids. Cistecephalids showed a high level of endemism, with each of the five known species unique to a single region.
Rhachiocephalidae is an extinct family of dicynodont therapsids. It includes two genera from the Late Permian of southern Africa, Rhachiocephalus and Kitchinganomodon. Rhachiocephalids were the largest dicynodonts in the Permian, although the kannemeyeriiform dicynodonts of the Late Triassic grew to larger sizes. Rhachiocephalids are also unusual in that they have long, low skulls.
Thliptosaurus is an extinct genus of small kingoriid dicynodont from the latest Permian period of the Karoo Basin in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It contains the type and only known species T. imperforatus. Thliptosaurus is from the upper Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone, making it one of the youngest Permian dicynodonts known, living just prior to the Permian mass extinction. It also represents one of the few small bodied dicynodonts to exist at this time, when most other dicynodonts had large body sizes and many small dicynodonts had gone extinct. The unexpected discovery of Thliptosaurus in a region of the Karoo outside of the historically sampled localities suggests that it may have been part of an endemic local fauna not found in these historic sites. Such under-sampled localities may contain 'hidden diversities' of Permian faunas that are unknown from traditional samples. Thliptosaurus is also unusual for dicynodonts as it lacks a pineal foramen, suggesting that it played a much less important role in thermoregulation than it did for other dicynodonts.
Counillonia is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the area of Luang Prabang in Laos, Southeast Asia that lived at around the time of the Permian-Triassic boundary and possibly dates to the earliest Early Triassic. Its type and only known species is C. superoculis. Counillonia was related to the Triassic dicynodonts such as Lystrosaurus and the Kannemeyeriiformes that survived the Permian mass extinction, but it was more closely related to the Permian genus Dicynodon than to either of these lineages. Counillonia may then possibly represent another line of dicynodonts that survived the Permian mass extinction into the Triassic period, depending on its age. The discovery of Counillonia in Laos and its unexpected evolutionary relationships hint at the less well understood geographies of dicynodont diversity across the Permo-Triassic boundary outside of well explored regions like the Karoo Basin in South Africa.
Repelinosaurus is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Purple Claystone Formation of Luang Prabang in Laos, Southeast Asia that lived at around the time of the Permian-Triassic boundary and possibly dates to the earliest Early Triassic. Its type and only known species is R. robustus. Repelinosaurus was originally described as the earliest known kannemeyeriiform dicynodont, supporting the idea of a more rapid radiation of the Triassic kannemeyeriiform dicynodonts during the Early Triassic following the Permian mass extinction. However, it may alternatively be more closely related to the Permian Dicynodon. The discovery of a potential early kannemeyeriiform in an understudied locality like Laos highlights the importance of such places in dicynodont research, which has been largely focused on historically important localities such as the Karoo Basin of South Africa.
Taoheodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Sunjiagou Formation in the Shanxi province of China, dated to the Wuchiapingian age of the Late Permian. Its type and only known species is T. baizhijuni. Taoheodon was a close relative of the well known Dicynodon, and may represent a biogeographical link between the South African Dicynodon and similar dicynodonts found in Laos.
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