Lophorhinus
Name:
Lophorhinus
(crested nose).
Phonetic: Lo-for-ry-nuss.
Named By: C. A. Sidor & R. M. H.
Smith - 2007.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Therapsida, Biarmosuchia, Burnetiamorpha.
Species: L. willodenensis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Reconstructed skull estimates at about 20
centimetres long. Total body length roughly estimated to be about
1 meter long.
Known locations: South Africa - Teekloof
Formation.
Time period: Wuchiapingian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Partial skull.
Lophorhinus
was a burnetiamorph biarmosuchian therapsid that lived in South Africa
during the late Permian. As a burnetiamorph Lophorhinus
was closer in
form to the genus Burnetia
than to Biarmosuchus.
Other genera that
Lophorhinus seems to be closely related to include Lobalopex
and
Pachydectes.
Lophorhinus
had enlargeds canine teeth that were likely the main killing weapons
available to Lophorhinus. The most distinctive
features of the skull
of Lophorhinus are the enlarged crests that rose up
into points above
and behind the eye sockets, as well as a smaller ridge-like crest
that rises up from the snout between the nasals and eye sockets.
Further reading
- A Second Burnetiamorph Therapsid from the Permian Teekloof
Formation of South Africa and its Associated Fauna. - Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 27(2):420-430. - C. A. Sidor
& R. M. H. Smith - 2007.
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