Oedaleops
| Oedaleops | |
|---|---|
| |
| Restoration of Oedaleops campi | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | †Caseasauria |
| Family: | †Eothyrididae |
| Genus: | †Oedaleops Langston, 1965 |
| Type species | |
| †Oedaleops campi Langston, 1965
| |
Oedaleops is an extinct genus of
Early Permian of the southwestern United States. Fossils have been found in the Cutler Formation in New Mexico, which dates back to the Wolfcampian stage of the Early Permian. All remains belong to the single known species Oedaleops campi. Oedaleops was closely related to Eothyris, and both are part of the family Eothyrididae
. Like Eothyris, it was probably an insectivore.
Discovery
Oedaleops was first described by paleontologist
disarticulated vertebrae representing at least three new individuals.[1]
Description
Oedaleops has a wide and low skull with a convex margin when viewed from the side. It has large
caniniform teeth and blunt snout of Eothyris.[2]
Because no tail bones are known, the total body length of Oedaleops is uncertain. The length of the dorsal vertebral column (the length of vertebrae making up the back) can be estimated at around 20 centimetres (7.9 in) from the lengths of individual
dorsal vertebrae in Oedaleops and the number of dorsal vertebrae present in related synapsids. Adding the length of the skull gives a snout-vent length (the length of the body from the tip of the skull to hips) of 25 centimetres (9.8 in). Like other early synapsids, Oedaleops probably had sprawling limbs and a body set low to the ground. The front of the body may have been slightly elevated above the level of the hips.[1]
Relationships
Since its naming in 1965, Oedaleops has been interpreted as a close relative of Eothyris from the Early Permian of Texas. Langston placed both in the family
paraphyletic):[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-94-007-6840-6.
- ^ .
- Langston, W. 1965. Oedaleops campi (Reptilia: Pelycosauria), a new genus and species from the Lower Permian of New Mexico, and the family Eothyrididae. Bull. Texas Mem. Mus. 9: 1–47.
External links
- www.palaeos.com
- www.kheper.net
- gatito.valdosta.edu (picture of a skullcast)