Ulemosaurus
| Ulemosaurus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Skull of Ulemosaurus svijagensis | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Dinocephalia |
| Family: | †Tapinocephalidae |
| Tribe: | † Tapinocephalini
|
| Subtribe: | † Moschopina
|
| Genus: | †Ulemosaurus Rjabinin, 1938 |
| Type species | |
| Ulemosaurus svijagensis Riabinin, 1938
| |
| Species | |
| |
Ulemosaurus is an extinct genus of
Middle Permian
.
Description
Only several partial skeletons and skulls have been found. The skull bones are extremely dense: about 10 centimetres (4 in) at its thickest. This thickening is possibly related to head-butting behavior, as some researchers suggest. The species is considered a
palaeontologists consider it a carnivore, with the species being able to use muscle power to cut prey up with its incisors
.
Classification
Ulemosaurus is a large Moschops-like form from Russia; it is probably similar enough to be included as a separate species of Moschops. Despite its advanced characteristics, it lived slightly before the Karoo forms, showing that the Moschopines, and indeed the Tapinocephalidae in general, had already attained their acme by early Capitanian time.
See also
References
Further reading
- Vickers-Rich, Patricia; Rich, Thomas H. (1993). The Great Russian Dinosaurs. ISBN 978-0-7326-0503-2.
- Riabinin, A. N., 1938. Vertebrate fauna from the Upper Permian deposits of the Sviaga basin: 1. A new Dinocephalian, Ulemosaurus sviagensi n. gen. n. sp: Ezheg. Muz. Akad. F. N. Chernysheva, v. 1, p. 4–40.