Smilesaurus Temporal range: Late Permian
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Holotype skull | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Synapsida |
Clade: | Therapsida |
Clade: | †Gorgonopsia |
Family: | †Gorgonopsidae |
Genus: | †Smilesaurus Broom, 1948 |
Type species | |
†Smilesaurus ferox Broom, 1948
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Synonyms | |
Genus level
Species level
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Smilesaurus is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian known from South Africa. It lived during the Late Permian. It contains the single species S. ferox.[1]
Description
[edit]![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Smilesaurus_skull.jpg/220px-Smilesaurus_skull.jpg)
Smilesaurus was a large gorgonopsian, with a skull length of up to 31 centimeters. It is characterized by extremely long canine teeth, and has the proportionally longest canines of any gorgonopsian.[2][1] Unlike other gorgonopsians, which probably hunted similarly to predatory reptiles, Smilesaurus probably was a true saber-toothed predator which hunted using similar tactics to saber-toothed cats.[1] It can be distinguished by other rubidgeines by its lack of cranial pachyostosis and rugosoties, and by its relatively small orbits.[1]
Classification
[edit]The classification of Smilesaurus has been disputed. It has often been included in Rubidgeinae, but it differs from other members of the clade considerably.[1] Instead, it may be more closely related to Arctops,[3] a position supported by a phylogenetic analysis in 2018.[4]
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Arctops_ferox112.jpg/220px-Arctops_ferox112.jpg)
Below is a cladogram of Gorgonopsia from Bendel et al., 2018:[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Kammerer, Christian F. (2016). "Systematics of the Rubidgeinae (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia)". PeerJ. 4: e1608. doi:10.7717/peerj.1608. PMC 4730894. PMID 26823998.
- ^ Broom, Robert (1947). "A contribution to our knowledge of the vertebrates of the Karroo Beds of South Africa". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 61 (2): 577–629. doi:10.1017/S0080456800004865.
- ^ Sigogneau-Russell, Denise (1989). Wellnhofer, Peter (ed.). Theriodontia I: Phthinosuchia, Biarmosuchia, Eotitanosuchia, Gorgonopsia. Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Vol. 17 B/I. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag. ISBN 3437304879.
- ^ Kammerer, Christian F.; Masyutin, Vladimir (2016). "Gorgonopsian therapsids (Nochnitsa gen. nov. and Viatkogorgon) from the Permian Kotelnich locality of Russia". PeerJ. 6: e4954. doi:10.7717/peerj.4954. PMC 5995105. PMID 29900078.
- ^ Bendel, Eva-Maria; Kammerer, Christian F.; Kardjilov, Nikolay; Fernandez, Vincent; Fröbisch, Jörg (2018-11-28). "Cranial anatomy of the gorgonopsian Cynariops robustus based on CT-reconstruction". PLOS ONE. 13 (11): –0207367. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1307367B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207367. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6261584. PMID 30485338.
External links
[edit]- "†Gorgonopsia – gorgonopsids". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Archived from the original on 2022-09-29.