''Anakamacops'' (meaning "similar to ''
Kamacops
''Kamacops'' is a genus of dissorophid temnospondyls
Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods—o ...
''" in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
) is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
dissorophid temnospondyl
Temnospondyli (from Greek language, Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order (biology), order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered Labyrinth ...
from the early
Middle Permian
The Guadalupian is the second and middle series/epoch of the Permian. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by the Lopingian. It is named after the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and dates between 272.95 ± 0. ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. It is known from the right side of a snout that was described in 1999 from the Dashankou locality of the
Xidagou Formation, which is within the city of
Yumen. The
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
was named ''A. petrolicus'' because Yumen is an oil-producing city (petrol).
More substantial material, including a partial skull and partial mandibles, was described by Liu (2018).
Description
''Anakamacops'' is most similar to ''Kamacops'', sharing features such as a choana widely separated from the interpterygoid vacuities and extensive
exostosis
An exostosis, also known as a osteochondroma, is a benign chondrogenic lesions derived from aberrant cartilage from the perichondral ring. Exostoses can cause chronic pain ranging from mild to moderate, but rarely severe, depending on the shape, s ...
ornamenting the skull roof. Both are large taxa; the most complete specimen of ''Anakamacops'' measures 26 cm in length despite lacking most of the snout. A number of potentially unique features were suggested based on the additional material described by Liu (2018), such as a relatively edentulous (lacking teeth) vomer and paired (rather than a single, unpaired) occipital ridge.
Phylogenetic analysis from Liu (2018)
References
Dissorophidae
Permian temnospondyls of Asia
Permian China
Prehistoric animals of China
Prehistoric amphibian genera
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