''Vivaxosaurus'' is a

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 ...

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, typic ...

from

Late Permian Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

(

Changhsingian In the geologic time scale, the Changhsingian or Changxingian is the latest age or uppermost stage of the Permian. It is also the upper or latest of two subdivisions of the Lopingian Epoch or Series. The Changhsingian lasted from to 251.902 ...

) of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. It has been found at Sokolki on the

Northern Dvina River The Northern Dvina (russian: Се́верная Двина́, ; kv, Вы́нва / Výnva) is a river in northern Russia flowing through the Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River ...

near

Kotlas Kotlas (russian: Ко́тлас) is a town in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Northern Dvina and Vychegda Rivers. Population: Kotlas is the third largest town of Arkhangelsk Oblast in terms of population (after A ...

in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lived during the latest Permian, and was a contemporary of ''

Inostrancevia ''Inostrancevia'' is an extinct genus of carnivorous therapsids, containing the largest members of gorgonopsians, predators characterized by long, saber-tooth-like canines. The various species inhabited European Russia during the Upper Tatar ...

'', ''

Scutosaurus ''Scutosaurus'' ("shield lizard") is an extinct genus of pareiasaur parareptiles. Its genus name refers to large plates of armor scattered across its body. It was a large anapsid reptile that, unlike most reptiles, held its legs underneath its ...

'' and '' Dvinia''. Like all members of the

, this animal was toothless, except for prominent tusks, and probably cropped vegetation with a horny beak, like a tortoise.

History

The contemporary species ''Dicynodon amalitzkii'' Sushkin, 1926 is closely related (Angielczyk and Kurkin 2003a, 2003b), although according to Lucas 2005, ''Dicynodon trautscholdi'', ''Dicynodon amalitzkii'', ''Elph borealis'', and ''Vivaxosaurus permirus'' are all synonyms, which makes ''D. amalitzkii'' the junior synonym of ''D. trautscholdi''. Other suggested synonyms are ''Gordonia annae'' Amalitskii, 1922, ''Oudenodon venyokovi'' Amalitskii, 1922, and ''Dicynodon annae'' (Amalitskii, 1922). In 2011, ''Vivaxosaurus permirus'' and ''Dicynodon trautscholdi'' were combined as ''Vivaxosaurus trautscholdi''. This same study also moved ''D. amalitzkii'' to the genus '' Peramodon''. In 2012, the species ''D. trautscholdi'' was moved to the genus ''Fortunodon'', independently of its synonymization with ''V. permirus''; this makes ''Fortunodon'' a subjective junior synonym of ''Vivaxosaurus trautscholdi''.

References

Dicynodonts Lopingian synapsids of Europe Extinct animals of Russia Anomodont genera {{anomodont-stub