Theriognathus

Theriognathus is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsid belonging to the family Whaitsiidae, known from fossils from South Africa, Zambia, and Tanzania. Theriognathus has been dated as existing during the Late Permian. Although Theriognathus means mammal jaw, the lower jaw is actually made up of several bones as seen in modern reptiles, in contrast to mammals. Theriognathus displayed many different reptilian and mammalian characteristics. For example, Theriognathus had canine teeth like mammals, and a secondary palate, multiple bones in the mandible, and a typical reptilian jaw joint, all characteristics of reptiles. It is speculated that Theriognathus was either carnivorous or omnivorous, and was suited to hunting small prey in undergrowth. This synapsid adopted a sleek profile of a mammalian predator, with a narrow snout. Theriognathus is represented by 56 specimens in the fossil record. Theriognathus would go extinct during a turnover event that separated the lower and upper subzone of Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone, being replaced by the akidnognathid Moschorhinus.

Theriognathus

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
WhaitsiidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Therocephalia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 7.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 254.14 Mya to 247 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 259.857 Mya to 241.464 Mya.

Permian — about 54 of 55 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 55 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 55 occurrencesMiddle Triassic260–260 Mya — about 1 occurrence260–259 Mya — about 5 occurrences259–258 Mya — about 5 occurrences258–258 Mya — about 5 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 5 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 5 occurrences256–256 Mya — about 5 occurrences256–255 Mya — about 5 occurrences255–255 Mya — about 5 occurrences255–254 Mya — about 4 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 4 occurrences253–253 Mya — about 4 occurrences253–252 Mya — about 4 occurrences252–251 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences247–246 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences245–245 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences244–244 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences244–243 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences242–242 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences254.14 Mya247 Mya260.4 Mya241 Mya

55 occurrences of Theriognathus 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

55 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

3 formations

Balfour — 32.15°S, 23.89°EBalfour — 31.96°S, 24.57°EBalfour — 31.91°S, 23.89°EBalfour — 31.87°S, 24.55°EBalfour — 32.04°S, 24.22°EBalfour — 32.05°S, 24.29°EBalfour — 31.95°S, 23.77°EUsili — 10.23°S, 35.05°EUsili — 10.25°S, 35.08°EUsili — 10.20°S, 35.38°EManda Beds — 10.35°S, 34.84°E

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The named rock units Theriognathus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 37 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Theriognathus and its relatives

Permian

Where Theriognathus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

54 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Theriognathus, 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

5 references

Each of the 55 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. 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 Theriognathus

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Theriognathus 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 itWhaitsiidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1876