Anteosaurus
| Anteosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Live reconstruction of Anteosaurus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Middle Permian | ||||||||||||
| 265.8 to 260.4 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Anteosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Watson , 1921 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Anteosaurus is an extinct genus of carnivorous synapsids ("mammal-like reptiles") from the late Middle Permian ( Capitanium ) of South Africa . David Meredith Seares Watson (1886–1973) published the first scientific description of the genusin 1921.
Fossils of the only valid species , the type Anteosaurus magnificus , come mainly from the Beaufort group of the South African Karoo main basin , which at that time was in the south of the supercontinent Pangea . In its ecosystem , the five to six meter tall, lumbering animal was the top predator that hunted large tapinocephalids . Similar finds are known from Russia ( Doliosauriscus , Titanophoneus ) and China ( Sinophoneus ). However, all of these forms died out at the end of the Capitanium (the youngest stage of Middle Permian).
Physique and ecology
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Anteosaurus is known from 32 partially or completely preserved skulls, which could reach a length of 80 centimeters, as well as from other postcranial elements. The maximum body length was five to six meters, the body weight 500 to 600 kilograms. On the massive skull, the post frontal formed a bulge of different sizes between the eye socket and shoulder. The thickening of the cranial bone allows the conclusion that the animals used their heads as weapons when hunting or towards other conspecifics ( territorial behavior ).
It was speculated that Anteosaurus, with its long tail, weak limbs and posture, led a semi-aquatic way of life similar to that of a crocodile . However, the thickening of the skull roof, which is typical of the Dinocephalia, speaks for a terrestrial way of life, since all other known taxa that use their skull thickening to fight - such as the extinct Pachycephalosauria , the Brontotheriidae or the recent goats - owned or have a terrestrial way of life. Anteosaurus may have spent some time in the water, but was active on land during the mating season, where the animals clashed their heads in mating fights and also hunted for prey similar to the modern Komodo dragons.
Synonymy
Anteosaurus magnificus is most likely the only valid species of the genus Anteosaurus . In 1969 Boonstra summarized six of seven genera known from the Tapinocephalus zone under the generic name Anteosaurus : Eccasaurus , Anteosaurus , Titanognathus , Dinosuchus , Micranteosaurus and Pseudanteosaurus . He was able to identify Titanognathus and Dinosuchus with certainty as synonyms of Anteosaurus , while the position of Eccasaurus could only be determined up to the family due to sparse fossil material . Micranteosaurus and Pseudanteosaurus appear to represent juvenile specimens. Although Boonstra still saw Paranteosaurus as a separate genus within the Anteosauridae , it is now assumed that the holotype only shows individual deviations, which is why this is also regarded as a synonym for Anteosaurus .
Just like the genera, the different species represented synonyms, so that the oldest specific epithet Anteosaurus magnificus is the only valid one.
Individual evidence
- ^ Watson, DMS (1921): "The Bases of Classification of the Theriodontia". In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . P. 92. Article
- ↑ a b c Palaeos.org: Anteosaurus
- ^ Van Valkenburgh, Blaire; Jenkins, Ian (2002). "Evolutionary Patterns in the History of Permo-Triassic and Cenozoic synapsid predators". Paleontological Society Papers 8, p. 273. Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ kheper.net: Brithopodidae / Anteosauridae , accessed on January 6, 2011
