''Brachyprosopus'' 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 ...
of
dicynodont
Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivorous animals with a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typicall ...
therapsid from the middle Permian
Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone
The ''Tapinocephalus'' Assemblage Zone is a tetrapod assemblage zone or biozone which correlates to the middle Abrahamskraal Formation, Adelaide Subgroup of the Beaufort Group, a fossiliferous and geologically important geological Group of the K ...
in the
Abrahamskraal Formation belonging to the
Beaufort Group
The Beaufort Group is the third of the main subdivisions of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. It is composed of a lower Adelaide Subgroup and an upper Tarkastad Subgroup. It follows conformably after the Ecca Group and unconformably underlie ...
of the
Karoo Basin
The Karoo Supergroup is the most widespread stratigraphy, stratigraphic unit in Africa south of the Kalahari Desert. The group (stratigraphy), supergroup consists of a sequence of units, mostly of nonmarine origin, deposited between the Pennsylvan ...
,
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 ...
.
''Chelydontops'' Cluver, 1975, based on a skull from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, is a junior synonym.
[
]
Description
''Brachyprosopus'' is similar to ''Endothiodon
''Endothiodon'' (/ɛndoʊθiːoʊdɔːn/ "inner tooth" from Greek endothi (ἔνδοθῐ), "within", and odon (ὀδών), "tooth", most likely named for the characteristic of the teeth being placed internally to the maxillaBoos A. S., Schultz C ...
'', ''Niassodon
''Niassodon'' is an extinct genus of endothiodontid dicynodont therapsid known from the Late Permian of Niassa Province, northern Mozambique. It contains a single species, ''Niassodon mfumukasi''.
Discovery
''Niassodon'' was first described ...
'', and ''Pristerodon
''Pristerodon'' is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of South Africa, Zambia and India.
Paleobiology Brain and senses
''Pristerodon'' were among the earliest land animals able to hear airborne sound as opposed to ...
'' in having absence of anterior median palatal ridges; maxillary tooth rows bounded laterally by a shelf; unfused vomers; raised margins of the interpterygoid vacuity; broad intertemporal region; pineal boss; dentary tables; and a long, wide posterior dentary sulcus that extends posterior to the dentary teeth. However, it can be distinguished by the autapomorphy of a curled lateral edge of the squamosal that forms a lateral wall of the external adductor fossa.[
]
See also
* List of therapsids
This list of therapsids is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the Therapsida excluding mammals and purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera tha ...
References
External links
The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
Dicynodonts
Permian synapsids of Africa
Fossils of South Africa
Fossil taxa described in 1937
Fossil taxa described in 1975
Taxa named by Everett C. Olson
Anomodont genera
{{anomodont-stub