#dicynodonts

"Within a temperate forest beneath a Glossopteris tree, a gorgonopsid, Lycaenops, guards over its prey, a dicynodont, Endothiodon. The approximate length of Lycaenops is 1.2 m (4 ft), and Endothiodon 1.1 m (3 1/2 ft)."

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.

I wanted to do one more dicynodont to show just how diverse these guys were. Yes I could have done Diictodon... but instead I chose Bulbasaurus phylloxyron. Did I choose it just for that name? Maybe.

Apparently, Bulbasaurus was not originally named after the Pokémon bulbasaur, but rather for the “bulbous” headgear on its nose. However, its describers have admitted that its name and similarity to the Pokémon “may not be entirely coincidental.”

Prehistoric Animals and Plants

by Josef Beneš illustrated by Zdeněk Burian 1979

Orthoceratids (In Palaeozoic seas)

Xenacanthus decheni (Vertebrates appear on the scene)

Diplovertebron punctatum (From fishes to amphibians)

Mesosaurus tenuidens (Permian reptiles)

Nothosaurus procerus (The world in the Triassic period)

Permian Critters of the Field Museum

Eryops

Seymouria, Labidosaurus, Captorhinus, Cacops

Bradysaurus

Casea, Dimetrodon, Sphenacodon, Ophiacodon