Titanosuchidae

Taxobox
name = Titanosuchidae
fossil_range = Middle Permian

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Titanosuchus".
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Synapsida
ordo = Therapsida
subordo = Dinocephalia
infraordo = Tapinocephalia
familia = Titanosuchidae
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = "Jonkeria" "Titanosuchus"

The titanosuchids were carnivorous to omnivorous (herbivorous?) tapinocephalid dinocephalians. As with other tapinocephalids, they had thick-skulls probably for head-butting. They appeared in the Middle Permian. They had large canine teeth, and their incisors were very strong. Titanosuchids are related to other dinocephalians, such as the tapinocephalidae - a group that includes "Moschops". The most famous titanosuchids are "Jonkeria" and "Titanosuchus". Like all other dinocephalians, they went extinct in the Permian-Triassic extinction.

References

*L. D. Boonstra, "The Fauna of the Tapinocephalus Zone (Beaufort Beds of the Karoo)", Annals of the South African Museum, 56 (1) 1969, pp. 1-73
*Carroll, R. L. Vertebrate paleontology and evolution. -W. H. Freeman and company, New York, 1988
*Edwin H. Colbert, Evolution of the Vertebrates, 2nd edition, 1969, John Wiley & Sons
*James A. Hopson and Herbert R. Barghusen, "An Analysis of Therapsid Relationships", in The Ecology and Biology of Mammal-Like Reptiles ed. by Nocholas Hotton III, Paul D. MacLean, Jan J. Roth and E. Carol Roth, Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington and London, 1986, pp.83-106
*Gillian M. King, "Anomodontia" Part 17 C, Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology, Gutsav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart and New York, 1988

External links

* [http://www.kheper.net/evolution/therapsida/Titanosuchidae.html Titanosuchidae at Kheper website.]