Criocephalosaurus

Criocephalosaurus; Temporal range: Capitanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Suborder:	†Dinocephalia
Family:	†Tapinocephalidae
Subtribe:	†Moschopina
Genus:	†Criocephalosaurus; Kammerer & Sidor, 2002
Species
	†C. gunyankaensis Boonstra, 1969; †C. vanderbyli Broom, 1928;
Synonyms
	Criocephalus preoccupied;

Criocephalosaurus is an extinct genus of tapinocephalian therapsids which existed in Southern Africa. It was originally named Criocephalus, but the name was preoccupied by a beetle genus.^[1] There are two named species, C. vanderbyli and C. gunyankaensis: the range of the latter may have been farther north than that of C. vanderbyli. Boonstra (1963) considers this taxon the most specialized of the moschopines.

Description

These animals were 2.5 to 3 metres (8 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) in length and 700 to 1,000 kilograms (1,543 to 2,205 lb) in mass. Criocephalosaurus is known from at least half a dozen skulls are now known. The intertemporal region is very broad and the cranial roof greatly thickened by pachyostosis.

References

^ Kammerer, C.F & Sidor, C.A. (2002). "Replacement names for the therapsid genera Criocephalus Broom 1928 and Olivieria Brink 1965". Palaeontologia Africana. 38: 71–72.

External links

Tapinocephalidae at Kheper

This therapsid-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Kammerer, C.F & Sidor, C.A. (2002). "Replacement names for the therapsid genera Criocephalus Broom 1928 and Olivieria Brink 1965". Palaeontologia Africana. 38: 71–72.

[1]