Sauroctonus
| Sauroctonus | ||||||||||||
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Live reconstruction of Sauroctonus progressus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Perm | ||||||||||||
| 260 to 251 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sauroctonus | ||||||||||||
| Bystrow , 1955 | ||||||||||||
Sauroctonus (from ancient Greek. Σαυροκτόνος Sauroktonos ; "Lizard Slayer") is an extinct synapsides land vertebrates from the family of Gorgonopsidae that the Permian lived. Two species of the genus have been described, fossils of the type Sauroctonus progressus were found in Tatarstan in Russia and described in 1955 by Alexey Bystrow . The second species comes from Tanzania , was first described as Arctognathus parringtoni and only laterassigned tothe genus Sauroctonus . The Gorgonopsidae belong to the Theriodontia , a group in which the ancestors of mammals can be found.
features
Sauroctonus reached a body length of 1.2 to 1.5 meters, of which about 25 centimeters fell on the skull. He was thus a medium-sized Gorgonopsid. Its skull was narrow, the bony eye sockets (orbit) small. In the upper jaw there were two very elongated canine teeth , similar to those of the saber-tooth cats (Machairodontinae). However, they were oval in cross-section and not as flattened as those of cats. The five incisors of the upper jaw were very small and serrated, behind the canines there were four to six other teeth. His pelvis was reptilian with mutually separated iliac ( ilium ), the ischial ( ischium ) and pubic bone ( pubis ). Sauroctonus ran laterally protruding legs, in typical reptiles Spreizgang . Sauroctonus probably occupied a similar ecological niche as the saber-toothed cats that lived over 230 million years later.
Systematics
Within the Gorgonopsidae, Sauroctonus belongs to the subfamily Gorgonopsinae, which differ from the other Gorgonopsids by some skull features, including a cheekbone that is not thickened at the bottom . It was probably closely related to the South African genus Scylacops .
literature
- Michael J. Benton , Mikhail A. Shishkin, David M. Unwin: The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press (December 4, 2003), ISBN 052154582X GoogleBooks
- Eva VI Gebauer: Phylogeny and Evolution of the Gorgonopsia with a Special Reference to the Skull and Skeleton of GPIT / RE / 7113 ('Aelurognathus?' Parringtoni). Dissertation for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Science. Summary (abstract) and PDF
Web links
- Sauroctonus progressus. BioLib.cz, accessed on May 15, 2010 .