The Tapinocephalia are one of the major groups of

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

therapsids Therapsida is a clade comprising a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals and their ancestors and close relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including li ...

and the major herbivorous group. Tapinocephalia has been found to consist of three clades: Styracocephalidae,

Titanosuchidae Titanosuchidae is an extinct family of dinocephalians known only from the middle Permian ''Tapinocephalus'' Assemblage Zone of South Africa. The titanosuchids were large, omnivorous or herbivorous animals. As with other tapinocephalians, they h ...

, and the very successful

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 ...

. Notable tapinocephalians include ''

Moschops ''Moschops'' (Greek for "calf face") is an extinct genus of therapsids that lived in the Guadalupian Epoch (geology), epoch, around 265–260 million years ago. They were heavily built plant eaters, and they may have lived partly in water, as hi ...

'', ''

Tapinocephalus ''Tapinocephalus'' ("low, depressed head") is an extinct genus of large herbivorous dinocephalians that lived during the Middle Permian Period in what is now South Africa. Only the type species, ''Tapinocephalus atherstonei'' is now considered v ...

'', 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 ...

''.

Description

Unlike

anteosaur Anteosaurs are a group of large, primitive carnivorous dinocephalian therapsids with large canines and incisors and short limbs, that are known from the Middle Permian of South Africa, Russia, China, and Brazil. Some grew very large, with skulls ...

s and

estemmenosuchid Estemmenosuchidae is an extinct Family (biology), family of large, very early herbivore, herbivorous therapsids that flourished during the Guadalupian period. They are distinguished by horn-like structures, probably for Animal communication, disp ...

s, tapinocephalians are primarily an African group. The

s and

pareiasaur Pareiasaurs (meaning "cheek lizards") are an extinct clade of large, herbivorous parareptiles. Members of the group were armoured with osteoderms which covered large areas of the body. They first appeared in southern Pangea during the Middle Per ...

s may have occupied this paleo-bovine niche in the north. Only one tapinocephalian, ''

Ulemosaurus ''Ulemosaurus'' is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsids that lived 265 to 260 million years ago, at Isheevo in Russian Tatarstan. It was a tapinocephalid, a group of bulky herbivores which flourished in the Middle Permian. ''Ulemosauru ...

'', is known from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Earlier tapinocephalians were

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

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 ...

. One such group was

, which consisted of long-tailed predators that hunted herbivorous

. Later tapinocephalians were herbivorous.

Notes

External links

Tapinocephalia
at Palaeos Guadalupian first appearances Guadalupian extinctions {{Paleo-therapsid-stub