Anteosauria

Anteosaurs are a group of large, primitive carnivorous dinocephalian therapsids with large canines and incisors and short limbs, that are known from the Middle Permian of South Africa, Russia, China, and Brazil. Some grew very large, with skulls long, and were the largest predators of their time. They died out at the end of the Middle Permian, possibly as a result of the extinction of the herbivorous Tapinocephalia on which they may have fed.

==Description== thumb|left|Skeleton of Titanophoneus The Anteosauria are distinguished from the Tapinocephalia by several features, such as very large canines, cheek teeth with bulbous crowns, and an upturning of the premaxilla, so that the front of the mouth curves strongly upwards. There is a tendency especially in more advanced forms such as Anteosaurus towards thickening of the bones of the top of the skull, indicating head-butting behavior. There is a large canal for the pineal organ (third eye); probably tied in with the animal's diurnal and seasonal cycles.