Dinocephalia

Dinocephalia is a clade of generally large-bodied therapsids that flourished during Middle Permian between approximately 275 and 260 million years ago (Ma), but became extinct during the Capitanian mass extinction event. Dinocephalians included carnivorous (Anteosauria), as well as herbivorous and omnivorous (Tapinocephalia) forms, serving as both dominant megaherbivores and apex predators. Many species had thickened skulls with many knobs and bony projections. Dinocephalians were the first non-mammalian therapsids to be scientifically described and their fossils are known from Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania.

Dinocephalia

DiBgd at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EutherapsidaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 274.4 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 175 occurrencesPermian — about 175 of 175 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 175 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences284–282 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 1 occurrence275–274 Mya — about 2 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 3 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 3 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 3 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 3 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 17 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 25 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 45 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 45 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 25 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 2 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 1 occurrence256–254 Mya — about 1 occurrence254–253 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences274.4 Mya259.857 Mya299.8 Mya251 Mya

175 occurrences of Dinocephalia on record, most of them in the Permian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

175 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

15 formations

Abrahamskraal — 32.42°S, 22.37°EAbrahamskraal — 32.97°S, 22.02°EAbrahamskraal — 32.35°S, 22.58°EAbrahamskraal — 32.91°S, 22.03°EAbrahamskraal — 32.47°S, 21.77°EAbrahamskraal — 32.86°S, 22.11°EAbrahamskraal — 32.49°S, 21.98°EAbrahamskraal — 32.46°S, 21.86°EAbrahamskraal — 32.70°S, 21.75°EAbrahamskraal — 32.82°S, 21.97°EAbrahamskraal — 32.37°S, 22.00°EAbrahamskraal — 32.50°S, 22.30°EAbrahamskraal — 32.49°S, 22.17°EAbrahamskraal — 33.03°S, 21.68°EAbrahamskraal — 33.11°S, 22.54°EAbrahamskraal — 31.47°S, 19.77°EAmanakskaya — 53.37°N, 52.81°EAmanakskaya — 51.82°N, 54.99°EAmanakskaya — 52.66°N, 53.48°EAmanakskaya — 52.32°N, 54.40°EAmanakskaya — 52.26°N, 54.85°EAmanakskaya — 51.59°N, 54.88°EAmanakskaya — 51.98°N, 55.17°ERio do Rasto — 30.02°S, 54.15°WRio do Rasto — 24.00°S, 51.11°WRio do Rasto — 30.00°S, 54.09°WBolshekinelskaya — 52.44°N, 54.47°EBolshekinelskaya — 52.55°N, 54.15°EBolshekinelskaya — 51.77°N, 55.37°EBolshekinelskaya — 52.52°N, 55.44°ESan Angelo — 33.64°N, 99.93°WSan Angelo — 33.69°N, 99.95°WQingtoushan — 39.70°N, 97.74°EMadumabisa Mudstone — 16.52°S, 27.95°ETeekloof — 32.39°S, 22.55°ETeekloof — 32.63°S, 22.44°EBelebei — 55.72°N, 51.40°EBelebei — 52.36°N, 55.88°ESheshmian — 58.00°N, 56.32°ESheshmian — 52.24°N, 54.70°EIsheevo — 55.78°N, 48.93°ERuhuhu — 10.35°S, 35.00°EBaytugan — 56.01°N, 52.71°EKutulukskaya — 53.29°N, 53.01°EKoonap — 33.06°S, 26.39°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dinocephalia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 84 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dinocephalia and its relatives

Permian

Where Dinocephalia and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

204 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 72 sites for Dinocephalia, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

28 references

Each of the 175 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 16 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Dinocephalia

Credit
DiBgd at English Wikipedia
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Dinocephalia was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEutherapsida through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Seeley 1894)