Tapinocephalia

Tapinocephalia; Temporal range: ; Middle Permian, 268–260 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N (possible Kungurian record)
	Moschops
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Suborder:	†Dinocephalia
Infraorder:	†Tapinocephalia; Broom, 1923
Subgroups
	†Dimacrodon?; †Estemmenosuchidae?; †Driveriidae?; †Mastersoniidae?; †Styracocephalidae; †Tapinocephalidae; †Titanosuchidae;

The Tapinocephalia are one of the major groups of dinocephalian therapsids and the major herbivorous group. Tapinocephalia has been found to consist of three clades: Styracocephalidae, Titanosuchidae, and the very successful Tapinocephalidae. Notable tapinocephalians include Moschops, Tapinocephalus, and Titanosuchus.

Description

Unlike anteosaurs and estemmenosuchids, tapinocephalians are primarily an African group. The estemmenosuchids and pareiasaurs may have occupied this paleo-bovine niche in the north. Only one tapinocephalian, Ulemosaurus, is known from Russia. Earlier tapinocephalians were carnivorous or omnivorous. One such group was Titanosuchidae, which consisted of long-tailed predators that hunted herbivorous therapsids. Later tapinocephalians were herbivorous.

^ Broom, R. 1923. "On the structure of the skull in the carnivorous dinocephalian reptiles". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1923: 661–684
^ Fraser-King, Simon W.; Benoit, Julien; Day, Michael O.; Rubidge, Bruce S. (2019). "Cranial morphology and phylogenetic relationship of the enigmatic dinocephalian Styracocephalus platyrhynchus from the Karoo Supergroup, South Africa". Palaeontologia Africana. 54: 14–29.

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