2019 was a fantastic year for dicynodonts! It saw the official publication of six new species (seven including the ‘official’ naming of Lisowicia), including the three handsome chaps here, Counillonia, Repelinosaurus and Ufudocyclops.
Counillonia and Repelinosaurus up top were from the very earliest Early Triassic of Laos, and their skulls had been languishing for years under the labels of Dicynodon or Lystrosaurus before finally being recognised as their own things.
Counillonia is more closely related to Dicynodon than any of the other Triassic dicynodonts, which means it was yet another lineage of dicynodonts to survive The Great Dying, or Permian-Triassic mass extinction (there was like, five of these, including Counillonia. It wasn’t just Lystrosaurus!).
Repelinosaurus meanwhile is apparently the earliest known kannemeyeriiform, the radiation of dicynodonts that took over the rest of the Triassic. It also had one of the shortest snouts of any dicynodont, which is really saying something since they were all pretty short-snouted, so Repelinosaurus looks especially snub-faced.
Ufudocyclops below is from the Middle Triassic of South Africa and is the oldest stahleckeriid, the only family of dicynodonts that survived to the Late Triassic, related to the likes of Placerias and Lisowicia. Its sick name is a combination of the local Xhosa word for ‘turtle’ and cyclops to the big “third-eye” on top of its head (like a lizard’s). Like the Laotian dicynodonts, Ufudocyclops was also mistaken for other dicynodonts until a new beautifully preserved skull was found that proved it was unique.
Alas, unlike Lisowicia, these dicynodonts got very little press, and subsequently even fewer reconstructions. In fact, none at all. Which is a damn shame, because dicynodonts are just the best, so I’m doing what I can to bring them some love.