| Homodontosaurus Temporal range:Late Permian | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Therocephalia |
| Superfamily: | †Baurioidea |
| Genus: | †Homodontosaurus Broom,1949 |
| Type species | |
| †Homodontosaurus kitchingi Broom, 1949 | |
Homodontosaurus is an extinctgenus oftherocephaliantherapsids from theLate Permian ofSouth Africa. Thetype speciesHomodontosaurus kitchingi was named by South African paleontologistRobert Broom in 1949. Broom based his description on a small skull found in theCistecephalus Assemblage Zone nearGraaff-Reinet. The skull is very small, at about 55 millimetres (2.2 in) long and 20 millimetres (0.79 in) wide.Homodontosaurus has large eye sockets and an elongated snout. The lower jaw is long, thin, and curved. Numerous small teeth line the upper jaw and are long, pointed, and round in cross-section.[1]
When he first namedHomodontosaurus in 1949, Broom considered it to be apelycosaur. He noted similarities between the skull ofHomodontosaurus and that of thesphenacodontidSecodontosaurus from theEarly Permian ofTexas. Broom thought thatHomodontosaurus was most closely related to a pelycosaur calledElliotsmithia, which he named in 1937 on the basis of the back half of a skull.[1] In 1950, South African paleontologist A. S. Brink described a second specimen ofHomodontosaurus, which included an articulated postrcranial skeleton.[2] On the basis of this skeleton, paleontologistsD. M. S. Watson andAlfred Romer reclassified it as ascaloposaurid therocephalian in 1956.[3] Scaloposaurids are now recognized as an artificial grouping of the juvenile forms of many therocephalians.Homodontosaurus has even been considered the juvenile form of the larger therocephalianTetracynodon.[4]Homodontosaurus and most other scalopodontids are now classified asbasal members ofBaurioidea.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)