Topic summary
Styracocephalidae
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Styracocephalus.
Classification
Styracocephalus was regarded as so distinctive that when it was described in 1929, it was attributed by its describer to the new suborder Styracocephalia. Later authors generally favoured a placement in Burnetiamorpha (part of Biarmosuchia) or Dinocephalia. However, detailed analysis shows that Styracocephalus is a dinocephalian, and lacks key anatomical traits of biarmosuchians. Styracocephalus is currently classified as the only member of the family Styracocephalidae within the largely herbivorous Tapinocephalia, one of the two main subdivisions of Dinocephalia. Below is a cladogram depicting the relationship of the Styracocephalidae with other dinocephalians based on a phylogenetic study published in 2019.