- Cistecephalus
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Cistecephalus
Temporal range: Late PermianCistecephalus microrhinus Conservation status FossilScientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Synapsida Order: Therapsida Suborder: Anomodontia Infraorder: Dicynodontia Superfamily: Emydopoidea Family: Cistecephalidae Genus: Cistecephalus Cistecephalus was a small, specialised, burrowing dicynodont, possibly with habits similar to a modern mole. The head was flattened and wedge-shaped, the body short, and the forelimbs very strong, with similarities in structure to the forelimb of modern burrowing mammals.[1]
It was one of the first genera of dicynodonts to be described, by Richard Owen, in 1876.
Cistecephalus is so far known from the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the South African Karoo, as well as from Zambia and India. A very similar genus, Kawingasaurus, is known from the Kawinga Formation of Tanzania, which is probably equivalent in age to the Cistecephalus zone.
Cistecephalus was about 33 centimetres (13 in) in length.
See also
- List of synapsids
References
- King, Gillian M., 1990, the Dicynodonts: A Study in Palaeobiology, Chapman and Hall, London and New York
External links
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