''Styracocephalus platyrhynchus'' ('spike head') is an extinct species of

tapinocephalia The Tapinocephalia are one of the major groups of dinocephalian therapsids and the major herbivorous group. Tapinocephalia has been found to consist of three clades: Styracocephalidae, Titanosuchidae, and the very successful Tapinocephalidae. No ...

therapsid Therapsida is a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals, their ancestors and relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more ...

s that lived during the

Guadalupian The Guadalupian is the second and middle series/epoch of the Permian. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by the Lopingian. It is named after the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and dates between 272.95 ± ...

epoch. ''Styracocephalus''s head ornament meant that it could be recognised from a distance. The most striking feature of ''Styracocephalus'' are the large backward-protruding tabular horns. The crest stuck upwards and backwards, but there is some variation in its shape, and this suggests that it changed throughout life and that it may be sexually dimorphic. ''Styracocephalus'' was a herbivore that may have been fully terrestrial or partly aquatic like the modern

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

. It may have evolved from the estemmenosuchids. Its remains are known from

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

but it probably had a wider distribution. It was around in length, with a , skull.S. H. Haughton, 1929, "On some new therapsid genera", pg. 55
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References

* The Origin and Evolution of Mammals (Oxford Biology) by T. S. Kemp
Palaeos, Styracocephalus
Tapinocephalians Prehistoric therapsid genera Guadalupian synapsids of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1929 Taxa named by Sidney H. Haughton {{Paleo-therapsid-stub

See also

References