''Dvellecanus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

recumbirostra Recumbirostra is a clade of tetrapods which lived during the Carboniferous and Permian periods. They are thought to have had a fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle and the group includes both short-bodied and long-bodied snake-like forms. At least one ...

lepospondyl Lepospondyli is a diverse taxon of early tetrapods. With the exception of one late-surviving lepospondyl from the Late Permian of Morocco (''Diplocaulus minumus''), lepospondyls lived from the Early Carboniferous ( Mississippian) to the Early Per ...

from the

Early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * '01 (Richard Müller album), 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * 01 (Son of Dave album), ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * 01 (Urban ...

of Oklahoma. The only species is ''Dvellecanus carrolli'', which was named in 2015 on the basis of a skull that was originally attributed to the closely related recumbirostran '' Rhynchonkos stovalli'' (it was named alongside another new recumbirostran, '' Aletrimyti gaskillae'', that was also once classified as ''R. stovalli''). ''Dvellecanus'', ''Rhynchonkos'', and ''Aletrimyti'' all come from the Fairmont Shale near the city of

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Cleveland County Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

which is within the

Anadarko Basin The Anadarko Basin is a geologic depositional and structural basin centered in the western part of the state of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, and extending into southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. The basin covers an area of . By th ...

. The name ''Dvellecanus'' is based on an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of Cleveland, "dvellecan." ''D. carrolli'' has a skull morphology very similar to ''R. stovalli'' and ''A. gaskillae'': it has a short, pointed snout, large eye sockets, and a sturdy braincase. All of these features are indicative of a

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

or burrowing lifestyle for these species. The skull of ''Dvellecanus'' is more adapted to burrowing than that of ''Rhynchonkos'', but less so than that of ''Aletrimyti''.

References

Cisuralian amphibians of North America Fossil taxa described in 2015 Recumbirostrans Paleontology in Oklahoma {{Lepospondyli-stub