Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Anteosaurus was once known by a large number of species, but the current thinking on this is that they merely represent different growth stages of the same type species, A. magnificus. [ 55 ] [ 10 ] We have 32 skulls of Anteosaurus , of which 16 are reasonably well preserved and on them ten species have been named.
The second largest prehistoric pinniped is Gomphotaria pugnax with a skull length of nearly 47 cm (19 in). [158] One of the largest of prehistoric otariids is Thalassoleon, comparable in size to the biggest extant fur seals. An estimated weight of T. mexicanus is no less than 295–318 kg (650–701 lb). [161]
Anteosauridae is an extinct family of large carnivorous dinocephalian therapsids that are known from the Middle Permian of Asia, Africa, and South America.These animals were by far the largest predators of the Permian period, with skulls reaching 80 cm in length in adult individuals, far larger than the biggest gorgonopsian.
The shoulder girdle is fairly light, with a narrow interclavicle, clavicle, and scapular blade. The femur (thigh bone) is slender and curved. These were, despite their size, probably quite agile animals. The limbs are short and the skull is long, narrow, and heavy. The tail is very long in at least some genera.
Nevertheless, these animals are too specialized and too late to have been the ancestors of the herbivorous tapinocephalids, so these characteristics evolved independently. Boonstra notes that the hip joint and the femur of Anteosaurus are comparable with those of the crocodile and that these animals may have had a crawling habit. Because of the ...
Paleontologists with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have discovered a previously unknown prehistoric species — a 270 million-year-old amphibian with wide eyes and a ...
Dinocephalians were generally large. The biggest herbivores (Tapinocephalus) and omnivores (Titanosuchus) may have weighed up to 2 tonnes (4,400 lb), and were some 4.5 metres (15 ft) long, while the largest carnivores (such as Titanophoneus and Anteosaurus) were at least as long, with heavy skulls 80 centimetres (31 in) long, and overall masses of around a half-tonne.
List of fossil species in the La Brea Tar Pits, California, United States List of fossil species in the London Clay , England List of White Sea biota species by phylum , Russia