Struthiocephalus
Name:
Struthiocephalus
(Ostrich head).
Phonetic: Stru-fe-o-sef-ah-luss.
Named By: Sidney H. Haughton - 1915.
Synonyms: Moschosaurus,
Struthiocephalellus, Struthiocephaloides, Struthionops,
Taurocephalus
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Therapsida, Dinocephalia, Tapinocephalidae.
Species: S. whaitsi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: About 3 meters long, skull about 50
centimetres long.
Known locations: South Africa - Tapinocephalus
Assemblage Zone.
Time period: Capitanian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Several individuals,
including juveniles.
Struthiocephalus
is known from a fairly large number of individuals that represent
various life stages and sexes, though originally these were broken up
into distinct genera on the mistaken idea that the different growth
stages and sexual dimorphism between specimens represented traits of
different genera. What can be said about Struthiocephalus
now is
that the large number of remains attributed to the genus at least
indicate that Struthiocephalus was quite successful.
Struthiocephalus
is noted for having a proportionately large head which actually
accounts for about one sixth of the total body length. This is mostly
down to an elongated snout which has been speculated as a feeding
adaptation for Struthiocephalus. One idea is that
the long snout
allowed Struthiocephalus to reach into water and
pull out soft aquatic
plants. There is even further speculation on this theory in that the
bone surface around the nostrils seems to show support for a muscular
valve that would have closed off the nostrils when Struthiocephalus
reached under the water.
Further reading
- New genera and species of tetrapods from the Karroo Beds of South
Africa. Journal of Paleontology 11(7):613-619 . - E.
C. Olsen & R. Broom - 1937.
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