Cistecephalus
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Cistecephalus
''Cistecephalus'' is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of southern Africa (South Africa and Zambia). It was a small, specialised, burrowing dicynodont, possibly with habits similar to a modern mole. The head was flattened and wedge-shaped, the body long, and the forelimbs very strong, with similarities in structure to the forelimb of modern burrowing mammals. It was one of the first genera of dicynodonts to be described, by Richard Owen, in 1876. ''Cistecephalus'' could reach up to in length. Description ''Cistecephalus'' was one of the most atypical dicynodont genera. However, it was broadly similar in anatomy to other cistecephalids, all of which share similar adaptations to digging. Its skull was broad, with laterally-directed temporal openings and a sharply tapering snout, similar to extant fossorial animals. However, it has relatively large, anteriorly-directed orbits, suggesting binocular vision. It had a short neck and laterally-directed sho ...
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Dicynodon
''Dicynodon'' ("two dog-teeth") is a genus of dicynodont therapsid that flourished during the Upper Permian period. Like all dicynodonts, it was herbivorous animal. This reptile 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. Many species of ''Dicynodon'' have been named, and the genus is considered a wastebasket taxon. A 2011 study of the genus found most of the species to represent a paraphyletic grouping, with the only valid members of ''Dicynodon'' being ''D. lacerticeps'' and ''D. huenei''. A 2019 study named a new species ''D. angielczyki'', but simultaneously transferred ''D. huenei'' to the genus ''Daptocephalus''. Description ''Dicynodon'' was a medium-sized and advanced member of the Dicynodont group. It had an average length of , although size differed among species. Its fossil remains have been found in sediments of l ...
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Cistecephalus Angusticeps
''Cistecephalus'' is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of southern Africa (South Africa and Zambia). It was a small, specialised, burrowing dicynodont, possibly with habits similar to a modern mole. The head was flattened and wedge-shaped, the body long, and the forelimbs very strong, with similarities in structure to the forelimb of modern burrowing mammals. It was one of the first genera of dicynodonts to be described, by Richard Owen, in 1876. ''Cistecephalus'' could reach up to in length. Description ''Cistecephalus'' was one of the most atypical dicynodont genera. However, it was broadly similar in anatomy to other cistecephalids, all of which share similar adaptations to digging. Its skull was broad, with laterally-directed temporal openings and a sharply tapering snout, similar to extant fossorial animals. However, it has relatively large, anteriorly-directed orbits, suggesting binocular vision. It had a short neck and laterally-directed sho ...
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Wuchiapingian
In the geologic timescale, the Wuchiapingian or Wujiapingian (from in the Liangshan area of Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province) is an age or stage of the Permian. It is also the lower or earlier of two subdivisions of the Lopingian Epoch or Series. The Wuchiapingian spans the time between and million years ago (Ma). It was preceded by the Capitanian and followed by the Changhsingian. Regional stages with which the Wuchiapingian is coeval or overlaps include the Djulfian or Dzhulfian, Longtanian, Rustlerian, Saladoan, and Castilian. Stratigraphic definitions The Wuchiapingian was first used in 1962, when the Lopingian Series of southwestern China was divided in the Changhsingian and Wuchiapingian Formations. In 1973 the Wuchiapingian was first used as a chronostratigraphic unit (i.e. a stage, as opposed to a formation, which is a lithostratigraphic unit). The base of the Wuchiapingian Stage is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where the conodont species ''Clarkina po ...
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Cistecephalidae
Cistecephalidae is an extinct family (biology), 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. Description Cistecephalids were small dicynodonts. Most species, with the exception of ''Kembawacela'', lacked tusks, but sexually dimorphic supraorbital ridges were present. Cistecephalids had boxy, broad skulls with relatively laterally directed temporal openings, a result of a considerably broadened intertemporal region. ''Sauroscaptor'', the most basal genus of the family, h ...
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Diictodon
''Diictodon'' is an extinct 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. Characteristics Appearance ''Diictodon'' had disproportionally large heads that ended in a horny beak. Both males and females had a pair of tusks sticking out from the upper jaw, ...
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Diictodon Feliceps
''Diictodon'' is an extinct 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. Characteristics Appearance ''Diictodon'' had disproportionally large heads that ended in a horny beak. Both males and females had a pair of tusks sticking out from the upper ja ...
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1876 In Paleontology
Dinosaurs Anapsids Newly named anapsids Plesiosaurs Newly named plesiosaurs Pterosaurs New taxa Synapsids Non-mammalian See also References {{DEFAULTSORT:1876 In Paleontology 1870s in paleontology Paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
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Kistecephalia
Kistecephalia is a clade of dicynodont therapsids. The group was first named in 1894, and was reinstated as a clade in 2009. Kistecephalia is a stem-based taxon defined as all taxa more closely related to '' Cistecephalus microrhinus'' than '' Emydops arctatus''. It includes the families Myosauridae, Kingoriidae, and Cistecephalidae and is part of the larger group Emydopoidea. Kistecephalians were small in comparison to other dicynodonts. One group of kistecephalians, the cistecephalids, are thought to have been burrowers. Below is a cladogram from Kammerer ''et al.'' (2011) showing the phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ... relationships of kistecephalians: References Dicynodonts {{anomodont-stub ...
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Dicynodont
Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivorous animals with a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typically toothless beak, unique amongst all synapsids. Dicynodonts first appeared in Southern Pangaea during the mid-Permian, ca. 270–260 million years ago, and became globally distributed and the dominant herbivorous animals in the Late Permian, ca. 260–252 Mya. They were devastated by the end-Permian Extinction that wiped out most other therapsids ca. 252 Mya. They rebounded during the Triassic but died out towards the end of that period. They were the most successful and diverse of the non-mammalian therapsids, with over 70 genera known, varying from rat-sized burrowers to elephant-sized browsers. Characteristics The dicynodont skull is highly specialised, light but strong, with the synapsid temporal openings at the rear of the skull ...
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Sauroscaptor
''Sauroscaptor'' is a genus of cistecephalid dicynodont from the upper Permian of India, containing one species, ''S. tharavati''. It is remarkable for the extreme placement of its pineal foramen, which bulges out of the posterior margin of its skull. Etymology ''Sauroscaptor'' means "lizard mole" or "lizard digger", and is derived from the Greek word σαῦρος, meaning "lizard", and the Greek word σκάπτω, meaning "digger", which is used as a suffix in the Indian mole genera ''Euroscaptor'' and '' Parascaptor''. The type species, ''S. tharavati'', honors Tharavat S. Kutty, discoverer of the Kundaram Formation fauna that includes ''Sauroscaptor''. History The fossils of ''Sauroscaptor'' show various forms of compression, and were originally interpreted as pertaining to several different genera of dicynodont. However, the shared presence of several unique traits not affected by compression proved that the fossils all belonged to a single endemic species. Description ...
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Emydopoidea
Emydopoidea is a group of Late Permian dicynodont therapsids. It includes the small-bodied ''Emydops'', ''Myosaurus'', and kingoriids, and the burrowing cistecephalids. Below is a cladogram from Kammerer ''et al.'' (2011) showing the phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ... relationships of emydopoids: References Dicynodonts Lopingian first appearances Middle Triassic extinctions {{anomodont-stub ...
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Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city of Zambia is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of Zambia. The nation's population of around 19.5 million is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the north, the core economic hubs of the country. Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. Following the arrival of European exploration of Africa, European explorers in the eighteenth century, the British colonised the r ...
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