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''Bolosaurus'' (from
The Permian period is characterized by the presence of a single supercontinent called Pangea. Pangaea stretched from pole to pole, and thus created a single great ocean called Panthalassa, and the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, which was located between Asia and Gondwana. The single gigantic continental landmass created extreme climates, which are characterized by extreme variations of heat and cold as well as highly seasonal monsoon conditions in some parts of the supercontinent. Not all regions received abundant rainfalls, and deserts were widespread on Pangaea. Such climate patterns favored gymnosperms over plants that use spore dispersion.
Skull:
The skulls of Bolosaurus are basically triangular in form. The skull is wider and higher in posterior region while the anterior snout terminates bluntly. The orbits are large and circular in outline.
Teeth:
Tooth planted in shallow cavity with its crowns expanded transversely to the jaw axis. In the upper jaw the posterior internal half of the maxillary series is low and horizontal, forming a ledge. The anterior external part forms into a cusp. The teeth of the lower jaw is different from those of the upper jaw via reversed position of ledge and cusp. This pattern suggests that Bolosaurus was herbivorous in diet. (Cope, 1878) The best preserved specimen showed total of 16 teeth. (Case 1907)
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
''bolos'', "lump" + ''sauros'': lizard]) is an extinct genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of bolosaurid
Bolosauridae is an extinct family of ankyramorph parareptiles known from the latest Carboniferous (Gzhelian) or earliest Permian (Asselian) to the early Guadalupian epoch (latest Roadian stage) of North America, China, Germany, Russia and France. ...
ankyramorph parareptile
Parareptilia ("at the side of reptiles") is a subclass or clade of basal sauropsids (reptiles), typically considered the sister taxon to Eureptilia (the group that likely contains all living reptiles and birds). Parareptiles first arose near th ...
from the Cisuralian epoch
In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured.
The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
(middle Sakmarian
In the geologic timescale, the Sakmarian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is a subdivision of the Cisuralian Epoch or Series. The Sakmarian lasted between 293.52 and million years ago (Ma). It was preceded by the Asselian and followed by t ...
to early Kungurian
In the geologic timescale, the Kungurian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is the latest or upper of four subdivisions of the Cisuralian Epoch or Series. The Kungurian lasted between and million years ago (Ma). It was preceded by the Ar ...
stages) of North Asia
North Asia or Northern Asia, also referred to as Siberia, is the northern region of Asia, which is defined in geographical terms and is coextensive with the Asian part of Russia, and consists of three Russian regions east of the Ural Mountains ...
and North America (Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma
The Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma are a group of Early Permian-age geologic strata in the southwestern United States cropping out in north-central Texas and south-central Oklahoma. They comprise several stratigraphic groups including the Clear For ...
).
Geological and environmental information
The Permian period is characterized by the presence of a single supercontinent called Pangea. Pangaea stretched from pole to pole, and thus created a single great ocean called Panthalassa, and the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, which was located between Asia and Gondwana. The single gigantic continental landmass created extreme climates, which are characterized by extreme variations of heat and cold as well as highly seasonal monsoon conditions in some parts of the supercontinent. Not all regions received abundant rainfalls, and deserts were widespread on Pangaea. Such climate patterns favored gymnosperms over plants that use spore dispersion.
Historical information / discovery
The first Bolosaurus was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1878. His article "Descriptions of Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia from the Permian Formation of Texas" mentioned the findings of crushed skull and few vertebrae of ''Bolosaurus'' striatus and ''Bolosaurus'' rapidens (Cope 1878). The imperfect skull of ''Bolosaurus'' major was found by Robert Broom in 1911 and was published in his article "On the structure and Affinities of Bolosaurus" in 1913 (Broom 1913). In 1974 a bolosaurid maxilla was found by Tartarinov in Mylva River, Komi, Russia and was named ''Bolosaurus'' traati (Tartarinov 1974). The most recent Bolosaurus species to have been discovered was by Robert R. Reisz, who found the jawbones of ''Bolosaurus'' grandis and published it in 2002 (Reisz 2002).Description and paleobiology
Skull:
The skulls of Bolosaurus are basically triangular in form. The skull is wider and higher in posterior region while the anterior snout terminates bluntly. The orbits are large and circular in outline.
Teeth:
Tooth planted in shallow cavity with its crowns expanded transversely to the jaw axis. In the upper jaw the posterior internal half of the maxillary series is low and horizontal, forming a ledge. The anterior external part forms into a cusp. The teeth of the lower jaw is different from those of the upper jaw via reversed position of ledge and cusp. This pattern suggests that Bolosaurus was herbivorous in diet. (Cope, 1878) The best preserved specimen showed total of 16 teeth. (Case 1907)
References
*Berman, DS, RR Reisz, D Scott, AC Henrici, SS Sumida & T Martens (2000), Early Permian bipedal reptile. Science 290: 969–972. H. Bolosauridae. *Cope, Edward Drinker. "Descriptions of extinct Batrachia and Reptilia from the Permian formation of Texas." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1878): 505–530. *Broom, Robert, Edward Drinker Cope, and Ermine Cowles Case. "On the structure and affinities of Bolosaurus. Bulletin of the AMNH; v. 32, article 33." (1913). *Case, Ermine Cowles. "Description of the skull of Bolosaurus striatus Cope. Bulletin of the AMNH; v. 23, article 28." (1907). *Reisz, Robert R., Vaia Barkas, and Diane Scott. "A new Early Permian bolosaurid reptile from the Richards Spur Dolese Brothers Quarry, near Fort Sill, Oklahoma." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22.1 (2002): 23–28. *Watson, David Meredith Seares. On Bolosaurus and the origin and classification of reptiles. The Museum, 1954. Procolophonomorphs Fossil taxa described in 1878 Permian reptiles of Asia Permian reptiles of North America Prehistoric reptile genera {{permian-reptile-stub