Titanosuchidae is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

family of

dinocephalians Dinocephalians (terrible heads) are a clade of large-bodied early therapsids that flourished in the Early Permian, Early and Middle Permian between 279.5 and 260 million years ago (Ma), but became extinct during the Capitanian mass extinct ...

known only from the

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. ...

''Tapinocephalus'' Assemblage Zone of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The titanosuchids were large,

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

animals. As with other tapinocephalians, they had thickened skulls that may have been used in head-butting, but to a lesser degree than in

Tapinocephalidae Tapinocephalidae was an advanced family of tapinocephalians. It is defined as the clade containing ''Ulemosaurus'', ''Tapinocaninus'', and the Tapinocephalinae. They are known from both Russia and South Africa. In all probability, the Tapinocepha ...

Anteosauridae 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 reachin ...

. They had large canine teeth, strong incisors with a "talon and heel" morphology, and leaf-shaped postcanine teeth. Two titanosuchid genera are recognized as valid: ''

Jonkeria ''Jonkeria'' is an extinct genus of dinocephalians. ''Jonkeria'' was a large and omnivore, omnivorous animal, from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, ''Tapinocephalus'' Assemblage Zone, Lower Beaufort Group, of the South Africa, South African Ka ...

'' and ''

Titanosuchus ''Titanosuchus ferox'' ("fierce titan crocodile") is an extinct species of dinocephalian therapsids that lived in the Middle Permian epoch in South Africa. Along with its close relatives, ''Jonkeria'' and ''Moschops'', ''Titanosuchus'' inhabite ...

''; they can be distinguished on the basis of limb proportions.

References

External links

Titanosuchidae at Kheper website.
Tapinocephalia Guadalupian first appearances Guadalupian extinctions Prehistoric therapsid families {{paleo-therapsid-stub