| Kannemeyeria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skull ofKannemeyeria simocephalus | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Kannemeyeriidae |
| Genus: | †Kannemeyeria Seeley,1908 |
| Type species | |
| †Kannemeyeria proboscoides Seeley, 1908 (Junior synonym ofK. simocephalus) | |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
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Kannemeyeria is agenus ofdicynodont that lived during theAnisian age ofMiddle Triassic period in what is nowAfrica andSouth America.[1] Thegeneric name is given in honor ofDaniel Rossouw Kannemeyer, the South African fossil collector who discovered the original specimen.[2] It is one of the first representatives of the family, and hence one of the first largeherbivores of theTriassic.
Kannemeyeria was about 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length, about the size of an ox. Although it had a large head, it was lightweight due to the size of the eye sockets and nasal cavity. It also had limb girdles which formed massive plates of bone that helped support its heavily built body.[3]
Kannemeyeria was well-adapted to living as a herbivore; it had a powerful beak and strong jaw muscles built for shearing plant material.[3]Kannemeyeria had a massive head with unusually large openings for the eyes, nostrils and jaw muscles. It evidently tore up roots, stripped leaves from the vegetation with its horny beak and ground them up with its toothless jaws.[4]
In a zone ofKaroo Supergroup,Kannemeyeria is found alongside largecarnivorousarchosaurErythrosuchus.[5]
Kannemeyeria is known from the Subzone B ofBurgersdorp Formation ofSouth Africa, theNtawere Formation ofZambia, theOmingonde Formation ofNamibia, the Lifua member ofManda Formation ofTanzania, and theQuebrada de los Fósiles Formation ofArgentina.[6][7]
Below is acladogram from Kammereret al. (2013):[8]
| Kannemeyeriiformes |
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