Casea

Casea
	Skeletal reconstruction of Casea in the Field Museum of Natural History .
Temporal occurrence
	Unterperm ( Kungurium )
	279.3 to 272.3 million years
Locations
	Texas ( USA ); Europe;
Systematics
	Amniotes (Amniota)
	Synapsids (Synapsida)
	Pelycosaur (Pelycosauria)
	Caseasauria
	Caseidae
	Casea
Scientific name
	Casea
	Williston , 1910
species
	Casea broilii; Casea nicholsi; Casea halselli; Casea rutena;

Casea is an extinct genus of the Caseidae . It is considered to be one of the first terrestrial herbivores. Fossils have been found in Texas in the US and Europe and are dated to the lower Permian. Casea lived in the same habitat of other synapsids like Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus , as well as primitive amphibians like Eryops . Casea was first described by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1910.

features

Drawing life reconstruction by Casea

Casea reached a length of 1.2 meters. The body was heavy and plump with a small skull . His chest was significantly enlarged. As with other Caseidae, the teeth in the lower jaw were missing, while the upper jaw was occupied with eleven to twelve blunt teeth. The palate was also toothed. These adaptations suggest that Casea was feeding on low plants such as ferns.

Systematics

Casea is the eponymous representative of the Caseidae . Close relatives are probably Oromycter and Ennatosaurus , a more distant relative was probably Cotylorhynchus , which was the largest genus of the Caseidae with a length of 6 meters. The sister taxon of the Caseidae forms the Eothyrididae with the only genera Eothyris and Oedaleops ; both families are combined to form the Caseasauria group. A cladogram according to Maddin et al. (2008):

Caseasauria

Eothyris ( Eothyrididae )

Caseidae

Oromycter

Casea

Ennatosaurus

	Cotylorhynchus

	Angelosaurus

swell

Palmer, D. (Ed.): The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals . Marshall Editions, London 1999, ISBN 1-84028-152-9 , p. 188.
TS Kemp: The Origin & Evolution of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005. ISBN 0-19-850761-5

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Maddin et al .: Cranial anatomy of "Ennatosaurus tecton" (Synapsida: Caseidae) from the middle permian of russia and the evolutionary relationships of Caseidae (PDF; 3.2 MB), 2008, p. 173
↑ ^a ^b ^c Casea on Paleobiology Database

[Maddinetal-1] Maddin et al .: Cranial anatomy of "Ennatosaurus tecton" (Synapsida: Caseidae) from the middle permian of russia and the evolutionary relationships of Caseidae (PDF; 3.2 MB), 2008, p. 173

[PBCasea-2] Casea on Paleobiology Database