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Velosauria
Velosauria is a group of pareiasaur reptiles that existed in the late Permian period. They ranged in size from the 50-centimeter-long '' Pumiliopareia'' to the 3-meter-long '' Scutosaurus''. Velosaurs were some of the largest reptiles of their time. Description Velosaurs were large reptiles that were characterized by their short tails, small heads, broad feet, and their legs, which were directly in between sprawling and semi-erect. Velosaurs' bodies were covered in osteoderms and smaller scales all over. Their heads came in all sorts of different shapes; from the cheek-frilled '' Scutosaurus'' to the spiky-headed '' Elginia'' to the nose-horned ''Arganaceras ''Arganaceras'' ("Argana horn") is a medium-sized pareiasaur from the Late Permian Ikakern Formation of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It ove ...''. They were herbivorous, and it is believed that their large bodies hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pumiliopareiasauria
Velosauria is a group of Pareiasauria, pareiasaur Sauropsida, reptiles that existed in the late Permian period. They ranged in size from the 50-centimeter-long ''Pumiliopareia'' to the 3-meter-long ''Scutosaurus''. Velosaurs were some of the largest reptiles of their time. Description Velosaurs were large reptiles that were characterized by their short tails, small heads, broad feet, and their legs, which were directly in between sprawling and semi-erect. Velosaurs' bodies were covered in osteoderms and smaller scales all over. Their heads came in all sorts of different shapes; from the cheek-frilled ''Scutosaurus'' to the spiky-headed ''Elginia'' to the nose-horned ''Arganaceras''. They were herbivorous, and it is believed that their large bodies housed a complex gut. Classification Some paleontologists believe velosaurs to be the direct ancestors to turtles. They argue that the smaller Pumiliopareiasauria, pumiliopareiasaurs evolved large, plate-like scutes that laid flat on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pareiasauria
Pareiasaurs (meaning "cheek lizards") are an extinct clade of large, herbivorous parareptiles. Members of the group were armoured with scutes which covered large areas of the body. They first appeared in southern Pangea during the Middle Permian, before becoming globally distributed during the Late Permian. Pareiasaurs were the largest reptiles of the Permian, reaching sizes equivalent to those of contemporary therapsids. Pareiasaurs became extinct at the end of the Permian during the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Description Pareiasaurs ranged in size from long, and may have weighed up to . They were stocky, with short tails, small heads, robust limbs, and broad feet. The cow-sized species '' Bunostegos'', which lived 260 million years ago, is the earliest known example of a tetrapod with a fully erect posture as its legs were positioned directly under its body. Pareiasaurs were protected by bony scutes called osteoderms that were set into the skin. Their heavy skulls wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasaurus
''Parasaurus'' (meaning "near lizard") is a genus of pareiasaur known from fossils collected in the Kupferschiefer in Germany (Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Saxony), dating to the Late Permian (Wuchiapingian). The type species, ''Parasaurus geinitzi'', described by Hermann von Meyer in 1857, was the first pareiasaur ever described. The seven known specimens were redescribed in 2008.L. A. Tsuji and J. Müller. (2008). A Re-evaluation of ''Parasaurus geinitzi'', the first named pareiasaur (Amniota, Parareptilia). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45(10):1111-1121 Discovery and naming As early as 1848, pareiasaur fossils have been reported from Germany; some of these fossils may have belonged to ''Parasaurus''. It was not until 1857 when von Meyer described these fossils and created the ''Parasaurus'' genus.Meyer, H.V. (1857). Beiträge zur näheren Kenntnis fossiler Reptilien. ''Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefaktenkunde'', 1857: 103–104. von Meyer c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunostegos
''Bunostegos'' ("knobbly kullroof") is an extinct genus of pareiasaur parareptile from the Late Permian of the Agadez Region in Niger. The type species, ''Bunostegos akokanensis'', was named from the Moradi Formation in 2003. It was a cow-sized animal with a distinctive skull that had large bony knobs, similar in form to those of other pareiasaurs but far larger. The species appears to have lived in a desert in the centre of the supercontinent of Pangaea. Analysis of the limb bones (including the scapulocoracoid, humerus, radius, ulna, pelvis, and femur) was published in 2015, and revealed that ''Bunostegos'' walked upright on four limbs, with the body held above ground. This new information directly suggests that it could be the first tetrapod with a fully erect gait. Description The animal has been described as about the size of a modern cow with a knobbly skull and bony plate armor on its back." Its teeth show it to have been a plant eater. It lived in an isolated desert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embrithosaurus
''Embrithosaurus'' was a pareiasaur from the Permian of South Africa. Description ''Embrithosaurus'' was in length and in weight. The skull is relatively deep and narrow. The body is lightly armoured with thin, smooth dermal scutes. Species * ''E. schwarzi'' (Watson, 1914). The type species. This is the most advanced species of this genus, as indicated by the teeth, which have nine cusps (in three groups of three). In cladistic analyses it is used as the monotypal species for the genus. * ''E. alexanderi'' (Haughton and Boonstra, 1929). This species was made the type for ''"Dolichopareia"''. As the name indicates, the skull is long and narrow. This would seem to indicate a different lifestyle or diet to other parieasaurs. More recently, it has been used as the monotypal species for the genus ''Nochelesaurus'' (it is not clear what the status of ''Embrithosaurus strubeni'' is, this may be a further transitional species). In cladistic analyses, this species is phylogenetically in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nochelesaurus
''Embrithosaurus'' was a pareiasaur from the Permian of South Africa. Description ''Embrithosaurus'' was in length and in weight. The skull is relatively deep and narrow. The body is lightly armoured with thin, smooth dermal scutes. Species * ''E. schwarzi'' (Watson, 1914). The type species. This is the most advanced species of this genus, as indicated by the teeth, which have nine cusps (in three groups of three). In cladistic analyses it is used as the monotypal species for the genus. * ''E. alexanderi'' (Haughton and Boonstra, 1929). This species was made the type for ''"Dolichopareia"''. As the name indicates, the skull is long and narrow. This would seem to indicate a different lifestyle or diet to other parieasaurs. More recently, it has been used as the monotypal species for the genus ''Nochelesaurus'' (it is not clear what the status of ''Embrithosaurus strubeni'' is, this may be a further transitional species). In cladistic analyses, this species is phylogenetically in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arganaceras
''Arganaceras'' ("Argana horn") is a medium-sized pareiasaur from the Late Permian Ikakern Formation of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to .... It was about in length and had a horn-like structure on its snout. References Pareiasaurs Lopingian reptiles of Africa Fossils of Morocco Fossil taxa described in 2005 Prehistoric reptile genera {{permian-reptile-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pareiasuchus Peringueyi
''Pareiasaurus'' is an extinct genus of pareiasauromorph reptile from the Permian period. It was a typical member of its family, the pareiasaurids, which take their name from this genus. Fossils have been found in the Beaufort Group. Description ''Pareiasaurus'' is a large quadruped, about long, with elephantine legs, walking in a typically reptilian posture. The skull is broad and the snout short. Its skull had several spine- and wart-like protrusions. ''Pareiasauruss leaf-shaped teeth, ideal for biting through tough plant fibers, indicate it was a herbivore. Even the palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sepa ... had teeth. Species ''P. nasicornis'' (Haughton and Boonstra, 1929) is from the ''Tropidostoma'' Zone, Karoo basin, South Africa. This early form is one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shansisaurus
''Shihtienfenia'' was a pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China. Species Lee (1997) refers to ''S. xuecunensis'' as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of ''Shihtienfenia''. Tsuji & Müller (2009) seem to consider it a valid taxon for cladistic analysis, and like Lee 1997 place the two Chinese species close to '' Pareiasuchus''. ''S. permica'' (Young and Yeh, 1963); The skull of this pareiasaur is unknown. It is known originally from a number of isolated vertebrae, jaws, and limb-bones and an incomplete skeleton, all from the Shiqianfeng locality near Baode, Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ..., part of the Sunjiagou Formation. ''Shanshisaurus xuecunensis'' Cheng, 1980 and ''Huanghesaurus liuliensis'' Gao, 1983 are synonyms. ''S. comple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanopareia
''Nanoparia'' is an extinct genus of pareiasaur that lived in the Permian. Description It was about 60 cm in length, and weighed around 8 to 10 kilograms. Classification This is an unusual small, spiny specialised form. The skull is very similar to that of Pareiasaurus and Romer considered it a synonym of the latter. Orlov however (in Osnovy Paleontology, the monumental multi-volume Russian textbook of Paleontology) placed it in the Elginiinae. Kuhn (1969) however argues that while resembling Elginia in the ossifications at the rear of the skull, it differs completely in proportions and would not seem to be related. Lee (1997) considers it a basal member of the dwarf pareiasaurs. ''Nanoparia'' is believed to be among the pareiasaur genera most closely related to turtles Turtles are an order (biology), order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deltavjatia
''Deltavjatia'' was a pareiasauromorph procolophonoid from the Tatarian stage of the Permian time period. It had a large body of about in length. ''Deltavjatia'' was an herbivore and lived in what is now Russia. The first specimen of ''Deltavjatia'' was a specimen of a skull and lower mandible (PIN 2212/1), found in the Urpalov Formation in Kotelnich, Vyatka River. Since then, numerous mostly complete skeletons have been found, many of them being so well preserved due to the silty, anaerobic environment of the Kotelnich deposits that fossilised white blood cells are able to be distinguished in them. Analyses of the bone histology of ''Deltavjatia'' show that they grew very rapidly during the early stages of their ontogeny but that their growth rate drastically slowed down once they reached approximately half of their full body size. ''Deltavjatia'' was placed as a subtaxon of Pareiasauridae by M.S.Y. Lee in 1997. See also *Pareiasaur *Procolophonia *Kotelnich *Vyatka (river) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bradysaurus Baini
''Bradysaurus'' was a large, early and common pareiasaur, the fossils of which are known from the ''Tapinocephalus'' Assemblage Zone (Capitanian age) of the South African Karoo. Along with the similarly large dinocephalia, the bradysaurs constituted the herbivorous megafauna of the late Middle Permian Period. In life they were probably slow, clumsy and inoffensive animals, that had evolved a covering of armoured scutes to protect them against their predators, the gorgonopsians. Description ''Bradysaurus'' was in length and half a tonne to a tonne in weight. The skull was large (about 42 to 48 centimeters long), broad and rounded at the front. It was coarsely sculptured and knobby, with the sutures between the bones not clearly visible. The marginal teeth were high-crowned, with only a few cusps, which is a primitive characteristic. The feet were short and broad, the phalangeal count being 2,3,3,3,2 on the fore-foot and 2,3,3,4,3 on the hind. The whole body is prot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
