Sinokannemeyeria

Sinokannemeyeria Temporal range: late Early Triassic
Restoration of Sinokannemeyeria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Synapsida
Order:	Therapsida
Suborder:	Anomodontia
Infraorder:	Dicynodontia
Family:	Kannemeyeriidae
Genus:	Sinokannemeyeria

A specimen of Sinokannemeyeria yingchiaoensis, on display at the Paleozoological Museum of China.

Sinokannemeyeria was a large (about 6 feet (1.8 m) long and weighing 250 pounds), long snouted, Chinese dicynodont with downward-pointing tusks that grew from bulbous projections on its upper jaw. The muscle attachment sites on the back of the skull were quite small, which suggested that Sinokannemeyeria did not have powerful skull muscles for shearing plants, unlike other dicynodonts. Most dicynodonts chopped up food by sliding their lower jaws backward and forward. Sinokannemeyeria fed by tearing plant material with the front of the snout.

Sinokannemeyeria and the other kannemeyeriines descended from ancestors similar to Lystrosaurus.

See also

• List of synapsids