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Sphenacodontidae
Sphenacodontidae (Greek: "wedge point tooth family") is an extinct family (biology), family of sphenacodontoidea, sphenacodontoid synapsids. Small to large, advanced, carnivore, carnivorous, Late Pennsylvanian to Guadalupian, middle Permian "pelycosaurs". The most recent one, ''Dimetrodon angelensis'', is from the latest Kungurian or, more likely, early Roadian San Angelo Formation. However, given the notorious incompleteness of the fossil record, a recent study concluded that the Sphenacodontidae may have become extinct as recently as the early Capitanian. Primitive forms were generally small (60 cm to 1 meter), but during the later part of the Cisuralian, early Permian these animals grew progressively larger (up to 3 meters or more), to become the Apex predator, top predators of terrestrial environments. Sphenacodontid fossils are so far known only from North America and Europe. Characteristics The skull is long, deep and narrow, an adaptation for strong jaw muscles. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dimetrodon
''Dimetrodon'' ( or ; ) is an extinct genus of sphenacodontid synapsid that lived during the Cisuralian (Early Permian) Epoch (geology), epoch of the Permian period, around 295–272 million years ago. With most species measuring long and weighing , the most prominent feature of ''Dimetrodon'' is the large neural spine sail on its back formed by elongated spines extending from the vertebrae. It was an obligate Quadrupedalism, quadruped (it could walk only on four legs) and had a tall, curved skull with large teeth of different sizes set along the jaws. Most fossils have been found in the Southwestern United States, the majority of these coming from a geological deposit called the Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma. More recently, its fossils have also been found in Germany and over a dozen species have been named since the genus was first erected in 1878. ''Dimetrodon'' is often mistaken for a dinosaur or portrayed as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dimetrodon Limbatus
''Dimetrodon'' ( or ; ) is an extinct genus of sphenacodontid synapsid that lived during the Cisuralian (Early Permian) epoch of the Permian period, around 295–272 million years ago. With most species measuring long and weighing , the most prominent feature of ''Dimetrodon'' is the large neural spine sail on its back formed by elongated spines extending from the vertebrae. It was an obligate quadruped (it could walk only on four legs) and had a tall, curved skull with large teeth of different sizes set along the jaws. Most fossils have been found in the Southwestern United States, the majority of these coming from a geological deposit called the Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma. More recently, its fossils have also been found in Germany and over a dozen species have been named since the genus was first erected in 1878. ''Dimetrodon'' is often mistaken for a dinosaur or portrayed as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it became extinct by the middle Permian, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macromerion
''Macromerion'' (Macro- is Greek/Latin for “large”) is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsids, specifically Pelycosaurs, in the family Sphenacodontidae from Late Carboniferous deposits in the Czech Republic.Paton, R. L. 1974. ''Lower Permian pelycosaurs from the English midlands''. ''Palaeontology'' 17 (3): 541–552.A. S. Romer. 1945. The Late Carboniferous Vertebrate Fauna of Kounova (Bohemia) compared with that of the Texas Redbeds. ''American Journal of Science'' 243:417-442 It was named as a species of ''Labyrinthodon'' in 1875 and as its own genus in 1879. Macromerion was one of the moderate to large-sized Spenacodontids and represented the most dominant terrestrial predators from the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, which means they lived about 300 million years ago. It is a "sail-backed" synapsid, exhibiting sizable parallel-fibered and fibrolamellar bone, along with lamellar bone. The family of Macromerion, Sphenacodontids, is a sister taxon of Therapsids. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphenacodontoidea
Sphenacodontoidea is a node-based clade that is defined to include the most recent common ancestor of Sphenacodontidae and Therapsida and its descendants (including mammals). Sphenacodontoids are characterised by a number of synapomorphies concerning proportions of the bones of the skull and the teeth. The sphenacodontoids evolved from earlier sphenacodonts such as '' Haptodus'' and '' Ianthodon'' via a number of transitional stages of small, 1-10 kg, faunivore animals. The possible common ancestor of sphenacodontids and therapsids was a carnivorous synapsid that reached moderate or large size and more closely resembled the land-dominant Early Permian sphenacodontids than the small ''Haptodus''. The first predators among Sphenacodontoidea, like '' Shashajaia'', appeared in the tropical western part of Pangea in the Late Carboniferous. Later, in Permian, sphenacodontoids gave rise to the dominant terrestrial carnivores in both sphenacodontid and therapsid groups. Classificat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphenacodon2
''Sphenacodon'' (meaning "wedge point tooth") is an extinct genus of synapsid that lived from about 300 to about 280 million years ago (Ma) during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian periods. Like the closely related ''Dimetrodon'', ''Sphenacodon'' was a carnivorous member of the Eupelycosauria family Sphenacodontidae. However, ''Sphenacodon'' had a low crest along its back, formed from blade-like bones on its vertebrae (neural spines) instead of the tall dorsal sail found in ''Dimetrodon''. Fossils of ''Sphenacodon'' are known from New Mexico and the Utah–Arizona border region in North America. Researchers currently recognize two species: ''Sphenacodon ferox'' (the type species) and ''Sphenacodon ferocior''. ''Sphenacodon ferocior'' can be up to 40% larger in overall size (at about long) compared to ''Sphenacodon ferox'' (at about ). In addition, the dorsal spines in ''Sphenacodon ferocior'' are proportionately 45% taller than in ''Sphenacodon ferox''. The recent discover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secodontosaurus
''Secodontosaurus'' (meaning "cutting-tooth lizard") is an extinct genus of "pelycosaur" synapsids that lived from between about 285 to 272 million years ago during the Early Permian. Like the well known ''Dimetrodon'', ''Secodontosaurus'' is a carnivorous member of the Eupelycosauria family Sphenacodontidae and has a similar tall dorsal sail. However, its skull is long, low, and narrow, with slender jaws that have teeth that are very similar in size and shape—unlike the shorter, deep skull of ''Dimetrodon'' ("two-measure tooth"), which has large, prominent canine-like teeth in front and smaller slicing teeth further back in its jaws. Its unusual long, narrow jaws suggest that ''Secodontosaurus'' may have been specialized for catching fish or for hunting prey that lived or hid in burrows or crevices. Although no complete skeletons are currently known, ''Secodontosaurus'' likely ranged from about in length, weighing up to . Fossils of ''Secodontosaurus'' have been found in Texa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cutleria (synapsid)
''Cutleria'' is an extinct genus of basal sphenacodontids or derived stem- sphenacodontoid known from the Early Permian period (Sakmarian stage) of Colorado, United States. It contains a single species, ''Cutleria wilmarthi''. Discovery ''Cutleria'' is known only from the holotype specimen USNM 22099, a fractured but three-dimensionally preserved, a nearly complete skull and articulated partial postcranial skeleton (including vertebral column, ribs and several girdle and limb elements). It was collected at locality 3, near Placerville of San Miguel County, Colorado, from the Cutler Formation, dating to the Sakmarian stage of the Cisuralian series. MCZ 2987, a tip of the rostrum and some teeth collected 2.5 km from the type locality (from localities 11–13), was originally referred to ''C. wilmarthi'' by Lewis and Vaughn (1965). A redescription of sphenacodonts by Michel Laurin (1993 and 1994), revealed that it cannot be assigned to any named sphenacodont genu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelycosaur
Pelycosaur ( ) is an older term for basal or primitive Late Paleozoic synapsids, excluding the therapsids and their descendants. Previously, the term mammal-like reptile was used, and Pelycosauria was considered an order, but this is now thought to be incorrect and outdated. Because it excludes the advanced synapsid group Therapsida, the term is paraphyletic and contrary to modern formal naming practice. Thus the name ''pelycosaurs'', similar to the term ''mammal-like reptiles'', fell out of favor among scientists by the 21st century, and is only used informally, if at all, in the modern scientific literature. The terms stem mammals, protomammals, and basal or primitive synapsids are instead used where needed. Etymology The modern word was created from Greek meaning 'basin' and meaning 'lizard'. The term ''pelycosaur'' has been fairly well abandoned by paleontologists because it no longer matches the features that distinguish a clade. Pelycosauria is a paraphyletic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptovenator
''Cryptovenator'' (''Crypto'', from Greek kryptos (hidden, secret); ''venator'', from Latin (hunter)) is an extinct genus of sphenacodontid "pelycosaurs" which existed in Germany during the latest Carboniferous (late Gzhelian age, 300 Ma ± 2.4 Ma). It is known from the holotype LFN−PW 2008/5599−LS, an anterior right mandible fragment, recovered from a dark, fine grained sandstone of the middle Remigiusberg Formation. It was first named by Jörg Fröbisch, Rainer R. Schoch, Johannes Müller, Thomas Schindler and Dieter Schweiss in 2011 and the type species is ''Cryptovenator hirschbergeri''. Phylogeny Cladogram after Fröbisch et al., 2011: See also * List of pelycosaurs This list of pelycosaurs is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all Genus, genera that have ever been included in the synapsida excluding therapsida and purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also g ... References Sphenacodontidae Carbonif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synapsid
Synapsida is a diverse group of tetrapod vertebrates that includes all mammals and their extinct relatives. It is one of the two major clades of the group Amniota, the other being the more diverse group Sauropsida (which includes all extant reptiles and therefore, birds). Unlike other amniotes, synapsids have a single temporal fenestra, an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye socket, leaving a zygomatic arch, bony arch beneath each; this accounts for the name "synapsid". The distinctive temporal fenestra developed about 318 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period, when synapsids and sauropsids diverged, but was subsequently merged with the orbit in early mammals. The basal (phylogenetics), basal amniotes (reptiliomorphs) from which synapsids evolved were historically simply called "reptiles". Therefore, stem group synapsids were then described as mammal-like reptiles in classical systematics, and non-therapsid synapsids were also referred to as pelyco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ctenorhachis
''Ctenorhachis'' (Greek for "comb spine") is an extinct genus of the family Sphenacodontidae. ''Ctenorhachis'' lived in the Early Permian epoch. ''Ctenorhachis'' was related to ''Dimetrodon'', but did not belong to the same subfamily as ''Dimetrodon'' and ''Sphenacodon'', being a more basal member of Sphenacodontidae. Two specimens are known that have been found from the Wichita Group outcropping in Baylor and Archer counties, north-central Texas. Only the vertebrae and pelvis are known. Articulated vertebrae from the holotype specimen possess blade like neural spines that are greatly enlarged, although not nearly to the extent that can be seen in more derived sphenacodontids such as ''Dimetrodon'' and ''Secodontosaurus'', in which they form a large sail. The pelvis is nearly identical to that of ''Dimetrodon''. As suggested in the original description of the genus, ''Ctenorhachis'' may represent a short-spined sexual dimorph, although the authors find this unlikely.Hook, R. W. a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
