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Tetragonias

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Tetragonias is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Anisian Manda Beds of Tanzania. With tetra meaning "four," and goni meaning "angle," the name references the square shape of the Tetragonias skull when viewed dorsally. Not to be confused with the plant Tetragonia, Tetragonias were dicynodont anomodonts discovered in the late 1960s by paleontologist A. R. I. Cruickshank in the Manda Formation. Only the type species, T. njalilus, has been recognized.

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Anomodontia
Image
Tetragonias njalilus 01.jpg
Show 5 more facts
taxon name
Tetragonias
taxon rank
genus
Commons category
Tetragonias
start time
247000000-
end time
242000000-
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

10 sections
Contents
  • Discovery and historical information
  • Description and paleobiology
  • Skull
  • Postcranial skeleton
  • Pelvic girdle and locomotion
  • Vertebrae
  • Other features
  • Geological and paleoenvironmental information
  • References
  • External links

Tetragonias is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Anisian Manda Beds of Tanzania. With tetra meaning "four," and goni meaning "angle," the name references the square shape of the Tetragonias skull when viewed dorsally. Not to be confused with the plant Tetragonia, Tetragonias were dicynodont anomodonts discovered in the late 1960s by paleontologist A. R. I. Cruickshank in the Manda Formation. Only the type species, T. njalilus, has been recognized.

Originally thought to have existed during the lower Middle Triassic age, also called the Anisian age, Gay and Cruickshank (1999) later postulated that the Manda Formation may have actually been of the Ladinian age. This terrestrial herbivore was determined to have relation to the genera Lystrosaurus and Kannemeyeria.

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

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