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Scylacops
''Scylacops'' (meaning "face that tears") is an extinct genus of Gorgonopsia. It was first named by Broom in 1913,Broom, R. "On the Gorgonopsia, a Sub-order of the Mammal-like Reptiles." ''Proceedings of the general meetings for scientific business of the Zoological Society of London''. (1913): 225-230. and contains two species, ''S. bigendens'', and ''S. capensis''. Its fossils have been found in South Africa and Zambia. It is believed to be closely related to the Gorgonopsian ''Sauroctonus progressus''. ''Scylacops'' was a moderately sized Gorgonopsid. Scylacops is an carnivorous therapsid, existing from 259.0 to 254.0 Ma. ''S. bigendens'' was first described by Brink and James Kitching in 1953, although its original description was ''Sycocephalus bigendens''.Brink, A. S., and J. W. Kitching. "Studies on new specimens of the Gorgonopsia." ''Palaeontologia africana'' 1 (1953): 1-28. According to the paleobiology database ''Scylacops'' specimens have been found in the following lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorgonopsia
Gorgonopsia (from the Greek Gorgon, a mythological beast, and 'aspect') is an extinct clade of sabre-toothed therapsids from the Middle to Upper Permian roughly 265 to 252 million years ago. They are characterised by a long and narrow skull, as well as elongated upper and sometimes lower canine teeth and incisors which were likely used as slashing and stabbing weapons. Postcanine teeth are generally reduced or absent. For hunting large prey, they possibly used a bite-and-retreat tactic, ambushing and taking a debilitating bite out of the target, and following it at a safe distance before its injuries exhausted it, whereupon the gorgonopsian would grapple the animal and deliver a killing bite. They would have had an exorbitant gape, possibly in excess of 90°, without having to unhinge the jaw. They markedly increased in size as time went on, growing from small skull lengths of in the Middle Permian to bear-like proportions of up to in the Upper Permian. The latest gorgonopsia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Therapsids
This list of therapsids is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the Therapsida excluding mammals and purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful ('' nomina dubia''), or were not formally published (''nomina nuda''), as well as junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered therapsids. The list currently contains 510 generic names. Naming conventions and terminology Naming conventions and terminology follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Technical terms used include: * Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previously published name. If two or more genera are formally designated and the type specimens are later assigned to the same genus, the first to be published (in chronological order) is the senior synonym, and all other instances are junior synonyms. Senior synon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aelurognathus
''Aelurognathus'' is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids from the Permian of South Africa. Discovery The type species is ''Aelurognathus tigriceps'', originally named ''Scymnognathus tigriceps'' by South African paleontologists Robert Broom and Sydney H. Haughton in 1913, and later assigned to the new genus ''Aelurognathus'' by Haughton in 1924. ''Scymnognathus parringtoni'' von Huene, 1950, previously assigned to ''Aelurognathus'', is now classified as a species of ''Sauroctonus''. ''Aelurognathus nyasaensis'' Haughton, 1926 is not referable to the genus.Kammerer CF. (2016) Systematics of the Rubidgeinae (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia) PeerJ 4:e1608 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1608 Palaeobiology A broken tooth beside the skeleton of a dicynodont from the ''Tropidostoma'' Assemblage Zone has been attributed to ''Aelurognathus'', indicating that it scavenged. The bones of the back of the skeleton are the most scattered, suggesting that the ''Aelurognathus'' individuals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era; the following Triassic Period belongs to the Mesozoic Era. The concept of the Permian was introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, who named it after the region of Perm in Russia. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the two groups of amniotes, the synapsids and the sauropsids ( reptiles). The world at the time was dominated by the supercontinent Pangaea, which had formed due to the collision of Euramerica and Gondwana during the Carboniferous. Pangaea was surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert within the continental interior. Amniotes, which could better cope with these drier conditions, rose to dominance in place of their am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biostratigraphy
Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock Stratum, strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. “Biostratigraphy.” ''Oxford Reference: Dictionary of Biology'', 8th ed., Oxford University Press, 2019. The primary objective of biostratigraphy is ''correlation'', demonstrating that a particular Horizon (geology), horizon in one geological section represents the same period of time as another horizon at a different section. Fossils within these strata are useful because sediments of the same age can look completely different, due to local variations in the Sedimentary depositional environment, sedimentary environment. For example, one section might have been made up of clays and marls, while another has more chalky limestones. However, if the fossil species recorded are similar, the two sediments are likely to have been laid down around the same time. Ideally these fossils are used to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauroctonus Progressus09
''Sauroctonus'' (from el, σαῦρος , 'lizard' and el, κτόνος , 'murderer') is an extinct genus of therapsids. ''Sauroctonus progressus'' was a large (2 m long) gorgonopsid that lived in the Late Permian epoch before the Permian-Triassic extinction event that wiped out many life forms on Earth (259-254 million years ago). Its fossils have been found in the Usili Formation ( Songea Group) of Tanzania and the Sokolki Assemblage Zone of the Volga Basin of Russia. Description ''Sauroctonus's'' flattened, triangular skull was about long, with a parietal eye, a primitive character, on the crown. The upper and lower jaw each contained one pair of massive canine teeth (the upper pair was larger); the other teeth were smaller, but were also sharp and pointed. In addition, minute, blunt teeth were present on the palatine bones. The lower jaw was widened to form a kind of chin. The long, lightly built, five-toed limbs bore a resemblance to mammals' limbs, but despite its 'ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Therocephalia
Therocephalia is an extinct suborder of eutheriodont therapsids (mammals and their close relatives) from the Permian and Triassic. The therocephalians ("beast-heads") are named after their large skulls, which, along with the structure of their teeth, suggest that they were carnivores. Like other non-mammalian synapsids, therocephalians were once described as "mammal-like reptiles". Therocephalia is the group most closely related to the cynodonts, which gave rise to the mammals. This relationship takes evidence in a variety of skeletal features. The fossils of therocephalians are numerous in the Karoo of South Africa, but have also been found in Russia, China, Tanzania, Zambia, and Antarctica. Early therocephalian fossils discovered in Middle Permian deposits of South Africa support a Gondwanan origin for the group, which seems to have spread quickly across Earth. Although almost every therocephalian lineage ended during the great Permian–Triassic extinction event, a few represe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rubidgea
''Rubidgea'' is a genus of Gorgonopsia, gorgonopsid from the upper Permian of South Africa and Tanzania, containing the species ''Rubidgea atrox''. The generic name ''Rubidgea'' is sometimes believed to be derived from the surname of renowned Karoo paleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted on therapsids of the Karoo Supergroup, Karoo Basin. However, this generic name was actually erected in honor of Rubidge's paternal grandfather, Sydney Rubidge, who was a renowned fossil hunter. Its species name ''atrox'' is derived from Latin, meaning “fierce, savage, terrible”. ''Rubidgea'' is part of the gorgonopsian subfamily Rubidgeinae, a Derived (phylogenetics), derived group of large-bodied gorgonopsians restricted to the Late Permian (Lopingian). The subfamily Rubidgeinae first appeared in the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone, ''Tropidostoma'' Assemblage Zone. They reached their highest diversity in the ''Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clelandina
''Clelandina'' is an extinct genus of rubidgeine gorgonopsian from the Late Permian of ''Cistecephalus'' Assemblage Zone of South Africa. It was first named by Broom in 1948. The type and only species is ''C. rubidgei''. It is relatively rare, with only four known specimens. Description ''Clelandina rubidgei'' has an extraordinarily small sclerotic ring relative to the size of its orbit, which implies that it was diurnal. It is the only rubidgeine with a preserved sclerotic ring, so it is unknown whether this trait was shared by other members of the subfamily. Like all rubidgeines, it was relatively large, with a skull up to 36 cm long. It had reduced dentition, with the teeth posterior to the canines being absent and replaced with a bony ridge. The skull has heavily pachyostosed, with massive rugose bosses. Classification ''Clelandina'' shares many characteristics with the contemporary ''Rubidgea'', and is currently recognized as the sister taxon of this genus. Toge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
