''Embrithosaurus'' was a

pareiasaur 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, ...

from the

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 Paleoz ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

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 Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

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 intermediate between ''

Bradysaurus ''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 cons ...

seeleyi'' and ''Embrithosaurus schwarzi''. * ''E. strubeni'' (Broom, 1924). The skull is large and deep, pointed at the front, and elevated in the jugal region. This species was originally made the type species of ''Nochelosaurus'' by Haughton and Boonstra. Boonstra later (1969) moved it into the genus ''Bradysaurus'', on the basis of the primitive tooth structure. Kuhn however considers it belongs under ''Embrithosaurus''.

References

External links

Velosauria
at Palaeos Permian reptiles of Africa Pareiasaurs Fossil taxa described in 1914 Prehistoric reptile genera {{permian-reptile-stub