The first non-mammalian synapsid embryo from the Triassic of South Africa. [PDF]
PLoS ONEOviparity was likely the plesiomorphic reproductive condition for non-mammalian Synapsida, the stem-mammal group. Yet, despite nearly two centuries of research, no definitive fossil eggs of late Palaeozoic or early Mesozoic synapsids have been discovered.
Julien Benoit +2 more
doaj +2 more sources
Bone microstructure and the evolution of growth patterns in Permo-Triassic therocephalians (Amniota, Therapsida) of South Africa [PDF]
PeerJ, 2014 Therocephalians were a speciose clade of nonmammalian therapsids whose ecological diversity and survivorship of the end-Permian mass extinction offer the potential to investigate the evolution of growth patterns across the clade and their underlying ...
Adam K. Huttenlocker +1 more
doaj +4 more sources
A New Dicynodont (Therapsida: Anomodontia) from the Permian of Southern Brazil and Its Implications for Bidentalian Origins. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2016 Dicynodonts were a highly successful group of herbivorous therapsids that inhabited terrestrial ecosystems from the Middle Permian through the end of the Triassic periods.
Alessandra D S Boos +4 more
doaj +2 more sources
Quantitative evidence for dimorphism suggests sexual selection in the maxillary caniniform process of Placerias hesternus. [PDF]
PLoS ONEPlacerias hesternus, a Late Triassic dicynodont, is one of the last megafaunal synapsids of the Mesozoic. The species has a tusk-like projection on its maxillary bone, known as the caniniform process.
James L Pinto +3 more
doaj +2 more sources
Triassic pentadactyl tracks from the Los Menucos Group (Río Negro province, Patagonia Argentina): possible constraints on the autopodial posture of Gondwanan trackmakers [PDF]
PeerJ, 2018 The Los Menucos locality in Patagonia, Argentina, bears a well-known ichnofauna mostly documented by small therapsid footprints. Within this ichnofauna, large pentadactyl footprints are also represented but to date were relatively underinvestigated ...
Paolo Citton +3 more
doaj +3 more sources
The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores. [PDF]
Sci Rep, 2013 Defecation in communal latrines is a common behaviour of extant mammals widely distributed among megaherbivores. This behaviour has key social functions with important biological and ecological implications.
Fiorelli LE +7 more
europepmc +3 more sources
Breeding Young as a Survival Strategy during Earth's Greatest Mass Extinction. [PDF]
Sci Rep, 2016 Studies of the effects of mass extinctions on ancient ecosystems have focused on changes in taxic diversity, morphological disparity, abundance, behaviour and resource availability as key determinants of group survival.
Botha-Brink J +4 more
europepmc +2 more sources
Hypercanines: Not just for sabertooths. [PDF]
Anat Rec (Hoboken)Abstract Hypercanines are here defined as hypertrophied caniniform teeth, that is, canine teeth that are elongated to serve specific functions in different clades of mammals and their synapsid ancestors. This article presents an overview of the occurrence of hypercanines, their growth, and their function across a broad range of clades.
Werdelin L.
europepmc +2 more sources
Frontiers in Earth Science, 2021 Lanthanostegus is an unusual dicynodont known from only two partial skulls from a single locality near Jansenville in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Bruce S. Rubidge +3 more
doaj +1 more source
Redescription of Digalodon rubidgei, an emydopoid dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Late Permian of South Africa [PDF]
Fossil Record, 2015 The Late Permian dicynodont Digalodon rubidgei Broom and Robinson, 1948, is redescribed based on reanalysis of the holotype and newly recognized referable specimens.
C. F. Kammerer +2 more
doaj +1 more source