Estemmenosuchus

Taxobox
name = "Estemmenosuchus"
fossil_range = Wordian

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = life restoration of "Estemmenosuchus mirabilis"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Synapsida
ordo = Therapsida
subordo = Dinocephalia
familia = Estemmenosuchidae
genus = "Estemmenosuchus"
genus_authority = Tchudinov, 1960
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Estemmenosuchus uralensis"
"Estemmenosuchus mirabilis"

"Estemmenosuchus" ("Crowned Crocodile") is a genus of large, early omnivorous therapsid that lived during the middle part of the Middle Permian period. It was the largest animal of its day, and is characterised by distinctive horns-like structures, probably for intra-specific display. Two species of "Estemmenosuchus" are known, both from the Perm (or Cis-Urals) region of Russia.

Description

, growing upwards and outwards from the sides and top of the head.

The skull superficially resembles that of "Styracocephalus", but the "horns" are formed from different bones; in "Estemmenosuchus" the horns are located on the frontals and directed upwards, whereas in Styracocephalus the horns are formed by the tabular and extend to the rear.

Two species of "Estemmenosuchus" are known; they differ in size, shape of the skull, and shape of the horns.

References

* Chudinov, P. K. 1965, "New Facts about the Fauna of the Upper Permian of the USSR", "Journal of Geology", 73:117-30
* Gillian M. King, "Anomodontia" Part 17 C, "Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology", Gutsav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart and New York, 1988
* Olsen, E. C., 1962, Late Permian terrestrial vertebrates, USA and USSR "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society", new series, 52: 1–224.

Link

* [http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/400Therapsida/300.html#Estemmenosuchus Palaeos] - detailed description
* [http://www.gondwanastudios.com/info/est.htm Estemmenosuchus, Gondwana Studios]