Styracocephalus

Styracocephalus; Temporal range: Capitanian, 265.8–260.4 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Suborder:	†Dinocephalia
Family:	†Styracocephalidae
Genus:	†Styracocephalus; Haughton, 1929
Species:	†S. platyrhynchus
Binomial name
	†Styracocephalus platyrhynchus; Haughton, 1929

Styracocephalus

Styracocephalus platyrhynchus ('spike head') is an extinct species of tapinocephalian therapsids that lived during the Guadalupian epoch.

Styracocephalus's head ornament meant that it could be recognised from a distance. The most striking feature of Styracocephalus are the large backward-protruding tabular horns.^[1]

The crest stuck upwards and backwards, but there is some variation in its shape, and this suggests that it changed throughout life and that it may be sexually dimorphic. Styracocephalus was a herbivore that may have been fully terrestrial or partly aquatic like the modern hippopotamus. It may have evolved from the estemmenosuchids.^{[citation needed]}

Its remains are known from South Africa but it probably had a wider distribution.

It was around 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) in length,^[2] with a 42-centimetre-long (17 in), 29-centimetre-wide (11 in) skull.^[3]

References

The Origin and Evolution of Mammals (Oxford Biology) by T. S. Kemp
Palaeos, Styracocephalus

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[1] S. H. Haughton, 1929, "On some new therapsid genera", pg. 55

[2] "Torvosaurus - Facts and Pictures". 15 January 2016.

[3] S. H. Haughton, 1929, "On some new therapsid genera", pg. 55

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Styracocephalus

See also

References

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