Captorhinus

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Captorhinus
Temporal range:
Ma
Two C. aguti specimens, Cisuralian (299-270 Ma), Oklahoma, United States
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Family: †Captorhinidae
Genus: †Captorhinus
Cope, 1895
Type species
†Captorhinus aguti
Cope, 1895
Synonyms
  • Hyponous Cope, 1896
  • Hypopnous Auctt. (Missp.)
  • Bayloria Olson, 1941
  • Paracaptorhinus Watson, 1954
  • Eocaptorhinus Heaton, 1979

Captorhinus (from

extinct genus of captorhinid reptiles that lived during the Permian period. Its remains are known from North America (Oklahoma, Texas
) and possibly South America.

Description

Restoration of C. aguti

While there are several forms of Captorhinus, there are three main species that are the best known. The previously mentioned Captorhinus aguti is the type species of Captorhinus, but there is also a fair amount of material collected on Captorhinus magnus and Captorhinus laticeps.[2]

Skull of Captorhinus kierani

The most distinguishable trait of Captorhinus is its namesake: the hooking of the snout from prominent ventral angulation of the premaxillary process. Other notable characteristics include the dorsally positioned alary process of the jugal on the medial surface and flushed with the orbital margin, the retroarticular process longer anteroposteriorly than broad, and the anteriormost dentary tooth strongly procumbent. The posterior teeth are either chisel-shaped or ogival. Until the late 1990s, Captorhinus was diagnosed by the presence of multiple rows of marginal teeth on the maxillary and dentary bones. However, single-rowed captorhinid elements have been discovered, proving this hypothesis incorrect.[3]

Captorhinus aguti

C. aguti was a small captorhinid reptile that lived during the Permian Period[4] 286 MYA to 245 MYA when the continents were still connected as Pangea.[5] An abundance of fossils have been found in Oklahoma,[6] and Texas,[7] including a skull,[4] hindlimb bones,[8] spinal vertebra, ribs, and forelimb bones.[7] The entire skeleton of C. aguti resembles a modern lizard.[7]

C. aguti from above

Although a subfamily of Captorhinidae,

Moradisaurinae, also possessed multiple-tooth-rows, the best-known type species Captorhinus aguti clearly acquired multiple-rowed-teeth independently. In contrast to the teeth rows in moradisaurines, the C. aguti rows are oriented obliquely to the margins, where each row is followed posterolaterally by the next one.[9]
The toothed areas of the maxilla and dentary are broader in C. aguti than in single-tooth-rowed captorhinids. C. aguti likely practiced lateralized feeding, as enamel on the teeth of the upper and lower right jaws was more worn down than on the left side.

[10]

The vertebral structure in C. aguti is that commonly possessed by primitive reptiles. The centra are

neural arches. The vertebral column is differentiated into presacral, sacral, and postsacral or caudal vertebrae.[11]

Similarly to

extant reptiles, C. aguti has a functional “mesotarsal” joint. It divides the tarsus into a proximal and distal unit, where the centrale is linked mechanically to the proximal (astragalus-calcaneum) unit. The increased flexibility due to this multiple-jointed arrangement allowed for the articulations between the centrale and first three distal tarsals on the medial side of the mesotarsal joint to have mechanical independence from the lateral articulation between the astragalus-calcaneum and the fourth and fifth distal tarsals.[12] This is almost certainly closely correlated with the primitive sprawling step cycle.[13] Due to the shape of the distal femoral articulation, Captorhinus aguti would have had little capacity to compensate for lateral movement of the femur.[14]

Preserved skin is known from the neck of the species, which preserves corneous epidermal bands.[15]

Captorhinus magnus

Captorhinus magnus has thus far been identified from only the Richards Spur locality in Oklahoma, a site that also produced the remains of C. aguti. Fossils of C. magnus are found predominately in the deeper regions of the fissure complex, whereas in the upper, younger sediments of the fillings, C. magnus remains are extremely rare. This suggests the ecological replacement of C. magnus by the smaller, multiple-rowed C. aguti during the Early Permian.[16]

The skeletal elements of Captorhinus magnus possess a nearly identical morphology to those elements of Captorhinus aguti, with the lone exception of the size difference. Captorhinus magnus averaged about twice as large as C. aguti. Another important difference between the two species is that the teeth are arranged in a single row. Captorhinus magnus possesses ogival check teeth, where the distal tips of the teeth exhibit a triangular shape when viewed in anterior view. Unlike C. aguti, the femur of C. magnus possesses a concave proximal articular surface in both immature and mature individuals. This allows for distinction between similar-sized femora of C. aguti and C. magnus, regardless of the

ontogenetic stage of the individuals preserved. Without the presence of the femur or a tooth-bearing element, it would prove difficult to distinguish between C. magnus and C. aguti, although the two can likely be differentiated with size as the sole criterion.[17]

Captorhinus laticeps

C. laticeps is distinguished from C. aguti by the lack of multiple tooth rows, but is very similar in all other aspects. Captorhinus laticeps is considerably smaller than C. magnus, and possesses chisel-shaped teeth instead of ogival teeth on the posterior portion of the maxilla and dentary.[18]

Other remains

Possible remains of Captorhinus have been reported from the Pedra de Fogo Formation, Piauí, Brazil, but they are fragmentary and cannot be assigned to the genus with confidence.[19]

History of discovery

Skull of C. isolomus now a synonym of C. aguti

In 1882, Edward Cope described a fragmentary skull from the Lower Permian of Texas collected by W. F. Cummins at Coffee Creek as Ectocynodon aguti. The name had then been revised several times by different paleontologists as more genera were discovered. In 1911, paleontologist Ermine Cowles Case revised the recently discovered species. He decided to refer P. (Ectodynodon) aguti, P. aduncus, and P. isolomus to Captorhinus, and established a new family, Captorhinidae.[20]

Named by Cope from the Latin word, “captor,” meaning “one who catches something,” and the Greek word, “rhino,” meaning, “of the nose.” This is based on the theory that the characteristically curved premaxilla of Captorhinus may have been used to catch prey.[21]

Paleobiology

Diet

Possible prey from the known fauna of the early Permian of both Texas and Oklahoma may have included other small amniotes, small dissorophid

sphenacodontids. These species most likely compromised the smallest carnivore guild among early Permian predators.[22]

Palaeoecology

Restoration from 1914

Captorhinus is known from the

Chicago Museum of Natural History taken from the Richard’s Spur, Oklahoma locality.[26]

References
  1. ^ Colbert, Edwin H. (Edwin Harris); Knight, Charles Robert (1951). The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 146.
  2. ^ Canoville 2010
  3. ^ Kissel 2002
  4. ^
    ISSN 2296-701X
    .
  5. PMID 31966109
    .
  6. ^ Richards, E.J. (2016). "The Ontogenetic Osteohistology of the Eureptile Captorhinus aguti (Reptilia: Captorhinidae) and the Community Histology of the Early Permian Fissure-Fill Fauna Dolese Quarry, Richards Spur, Oklahoma". ProQuest.
  7. ^ a b c Fox, Richard; Bowman, M. (1966). Osteology and Relationships of Captorhinus Aguti (Cope) (Reptilia: Captorhinomorpha). The University of Kansas Paleontological Institute. pp. 1–79.
  8. ^ Holmes, R.B. (2003). "The hind limb of Captorhinus aguti and the step cycle of basal amniotes". NRC Research Press.
  9. ^ Fox 1966
  10. S2CID 218627600
    .
  11. ^ Fox 1966
  12. ^ Kissel 2002
  13. ^ Holmes 2003
  14. ^ Kissel 2002
  15. PMID 38215745
    .
  16. ^ Kissel 2002
  17. ^ Kissel 2002
  18. ^ Kissel 2002
  19. PMID 32185112
    .
  20. ^ Fox 1996
  21. ^ Fox 1966
  22. ^ Kissel 2002
  23. ^ Friedman 1996
  24. ^ Modesto 1996
  25. ^ Modesto 2007
  26. ^ Gaffney 1979

Sources

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