Suminia

Taxobox
name = "Suminia"
fossil_range = Late Permian


image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Suminia getmanovi"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
superclassis = Tetrapoda
classis = Synapsida
ordo = Therapsida
subordo = Anomodontia
unranked = Venyukoviamorpha
familia = Venyukoviidae
genus = "Suminia"
species = "S. getmanovi"
binomial = "Suminia getmanovi"
binomial_authority = Ivachnenko, 1994

"Suminia getmanovi" was a primitive therapsid that lived 260 mya in the late Permian ("zone II"). This anomodont was discovered in Kotelnich on the Vyatka River Russia. It is found in sandstone sediment, so most likely this represents a delta dwelling species, but this is not conclusive, as other habitats may have been involved but the species was never fossilized in that habitat. The species mainly has teeth that are heavily abraded suggesting plant material of high silica content.

Features

The teeth were quiet large for its size containing a single cusp per tooth with many cerations as in a cerated knife. These teeth were replaced throughout its lifecycle.The eyesocket was faily large and placed near the temporal opening, separated by a thin Postorbital Bar.

External links

* [http://www.gondwanastudios.com/info/sum.htm Suminia, Gondwana Studios]
* [http://forests.org/archive/general/anchrept.htm Discovery and Life]
* [http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/artikel/574627&template=bild_popup&_bild=1 Skull]
* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Anomodontia/Anomodontia_2.htm Genealogical table]

References

* Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas H. Rich, "The Great Russian Dinosaurs", Gunter Graphics, 1993, Pg 37.
* Rybczynski, N., 2000, "Cranial anatomy and phygenetic position of Suminia getmanovi, a basal anomodont (Amniota: Therapsida) from the Late Permian of Eastern Europe", "Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society": vol. 130, pp. 329-373