Ulemosaurus
Extinct genus of therapsids
Ulemosaurus is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsids that lived 265 to 260 million years ago, at Isheevo in Russian Tatarstan. It was a tapinocephalid, a group of bulky herbivores which flourished in the Middle Permian. Ulemosaurus and other tapinocephalians disappeared at the end of the Middle Permian.
01Description
Only several partial skeletons and skulls have been found. Ulemosaurus grew to 4-5 metres (13-16 ft) in length and weighed up to 1 tonne (2,200 lb). The skull bones are extremely dense: about 10 centimetres (3.9 in) at its thickest. This thickening is possibly related to head-butting behavior, as some researchers suggest. The species is considered a herbivore, but because the mandible is heavily constructed some palaeontologists consider it a carnivore, with the species being able to use muscle power to cut prey up with its incisors.
02Classification
Ulemosaurus is a large Moschops-like form from Russia. Despite its advanced characteristics, it lived slightly before the Karoo forms, showing that the Moschopines, and indeed the Tapinocephalidae in general, had already attained their acme by early Capitanian time.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ulemosaurus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Ulemosaurus svijagensis Riabinin. Музей естественной истории РТ. Кремль. Казань. Январь 2014 - panoramio.jpg by Vadim Indeikin, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ulemosaurus BW.jpg by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com), CC BY 3.0
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