Bidentalia is a group of

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, t ...

therapsids. Bidentalia was one of the first names used to describe dicynodonts; the group was established in 1876, while the name "bidentals" dates back as far as 1845. With the increasing prominence of

phylogenetics In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

, the group was redefined as a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

in 2009. Bidentalia is now considered a

stem-based taxon Phylogenetic nomenclature is a method of nomenclature for taxon, taxa in biology that uses phylogenetics, phylogenetic definitions for taxon names as explained below. This contrasts with Biological classification, the traditional method, by which ...

that includes all taxa more closely related to '' Aulacephalodon bainii'' and '' Dicynodon lacerticeps'' than '' Emydops arctatus''.

History

In 1845, South African geologist Andrew Geddes Bain described the first known dicynodonts as "bidentals" for their two prominent tusks. "Bidental" was the first name ever used for a group of non-mammalian

synapsid Synapsida is a diverse group of tetrapod vertebrates that includes all mammals and their extinct relatives. It is one of the two major clades of the group Amniota, the other being the more diverse group Sauropsida (which includes all extant rept ...

s. The name Dicynodontia, which is more commonly used to refer to these animals, was erected by English paleontologist

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...

in 1860. Realizing that Bain's "bidentals" predated his "dicynodonts", Owen named Bidentalia in 1876 as a replacement name for Dicynodontia. Owen described Bidentalia as reptiles with "a long ever-growing tusk in each maxillary; premaxillaries connate, forming with the lower jaw a beak-shaped mouth, probably sheathed with horn. Sacrum of more than two vertebrae; trunk-vertebrae amphicoelian; limbs ambulatory." At this time, Bidentalia included three main species: '' Dicynodon lacerticeps'', '' Dicynodon bainii'', and '' Ptychognathus declivis''. The two ''Dicynodon'' species were named in 1845, just before Bain described his bidentals. ''Ptychognathus'' was named in 1859, and is now called '' Lystrosaurus''. In the following years Dicynodontia became the preferred name for these reptiles and Bidentalia quickly fell out of use. Bidentalia was reinstated as a

in 2009. It was used to include all therochelonians more closely related to '' Dicynodon'' than to emydopoids (a group of more basal dicynodonts). As a clade, Bidentalia forms a more inclusive group than it did under Owen's use. Owen's Bidentalia was equivalent to Dicynodontia, which today is used as a much larger group encompassing all dicynodonts. In its current use, Bidentalia includes two major subgroups, Cryptodontia and Dicynodontoidea.

Evolution

Bidentalia originated in the

Guadalupian The Guadalupian is the second and middle Series (stratigraphy), series/Epoch (geology), 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 an ...

epoch of the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

and quickly spread worldwide, with early species known from both Brazil and Russia. However, they were conspicuously absent from Africa despite its well-known Permian fauna until the

late Permian Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

. The oldest and most basal known bidentalian is '' Rastodon''.

Phylogeny

Bidentalia is divided into two major groups, the Cryptodontia and the Dicynodontoidea, as well as a small number of basal genera such as '' Elph'' and '' Rastodon'' However, the Cryptodontia may be paraphyletic. Below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

showing the phylogeny of Bidentalia from a recent study, Kammerer ''et al.'' (2011):

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4904117 Guadalupian first appearances Early Cretaceous extinctions