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Tapinocephalia

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The Tapinocephalia are one of the major groups of dinocephalian therapsids and the major herbivorous group. Tapinocephalia has been found to consist of three clades: Styracocephalidae, Titanosuchidae, and the very successful Tapinocephalidae. Notable tapinocephalians include Moschops, Tapinocephalus, and Titanosuchus.

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Dinocephalia
Image
Moschops BW.jpg
Show 4 more facts
taxon name
Tapinocephalia
taxon rank
infraorder
Commons category
Dinocephalia
time period
Permian
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

3 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • Notes
  • External links

The Tapinocephalia are one of the major groups of dinocephalian therapsids and the major herbivorous group. Tapinocephalia has been found to consist of three clades: Styracocephalidae, Titanosuchidae, and the very successful Tapinocephalidae. Notable tapinocephalians include Moschops, Tapinocephalus, and Titanosuchus.

==Description== Unlike anteosaurs and estemmenosuchids, tapinocephalians are primarily an African group. The estemmenosuchids and pareiasaurs may have occupied this paleo-bovine niche in the north. Only one tapinocephalian, Ulemosaurus, is known from Russia. Earlier tapinocephalians were carnivorous or omnivorous. One such group was Titanosuchidae, which consisted of long-tailed predators that hunted herbivorous therapsids. Later tapinocephalians were herbivorous.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tapinocephalia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.