Cistecephalidae
Cistecephalidae Temporal range:
Late Permian | |
---|---|
Reconstruction of Cistecephalus microrhinus
| |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Synapsida |
Clade: | Therapsida
|
Suborder: | † Anomodontia
|
Clade: | † Dicynodontia
|
Clade: | †Kistecephalia |
Family: | †Cistecephalidae Broom, 1913 |
Genera
| |
Cistecephalidae is an extinct
Description
Cistecephalids were small dicynodonts. Most species, with the exception of Kembawacela, lacked tusks, but sexually dimorphic supraorbital ridges were present.[3][4] Cistecephalids had boxy, broad skulls with relatively laterally directed temporal openings, a result of a considerably broadened intertemporal region. Sauroscaptor, the most basal genus of the family, had a less extreme broadening of the intratemporal region than in other members of the family.[3] In the derived genera Cistecephaloides and Kawingasaurus, the intratemporal portion of the skull was broader than the skull was long. Cistecephalids also had a relatively posteriorly positioned pineal foramen, which in Kembawacela and Sauroscaptor was displaced all the way to the posterior margin of the skull. They also had anteriorly directed orbits; they may have had binocular vision, which may have been an adaptation for nocturnality or an insectivorous lifestyle.[4]
Classification
The Cistecephalidae contains five named genera each with one species. It is a member of the Dicynodont clade Emydopoidea. Phylogeny following Kammerer et al. 2016:[1][3]
References
- ^ a b Kammerer, C.F.; Angielczyk, K.D. (2009). "A proposed higher taxonomy of anomodont therapsids" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2018: 1–24.
- .
- ^ S2CID 88833541.
- ^ S2CID 86333197.