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Smilesaurus

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(Redirected from Smilesaurus ferox) Extinct genus of therapsids Not to be confused with Silesaurus.

Smilesaurus
Temporal range: Late Permian 259–254 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: †Gorgonopsia
Family: †Gorgonopsidae
Genus: †Smilesaurus
Broom, 1948
Type species
†Smilesaurus ferox
Broom, 1948
Synonyms

Genus level

  • Pardocephalus Broom, 1948

Species level

  • Pardocephalus wallacei Broom, 1948
  • Smilesaurus maccabei Broom, 1948
  • Aelurognathus ferox Gebauer, 2007

Smilesaurus is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian known from South Africa. It lived during the Late Permian. It contains the single species S. ferox.

Description

Skull of Smilesaurus ferox

Smilesaurus was a large gorgonopsian, with a skull length of up to 31 centimeters. It is characterized by extremely long canine teeth, and has the proportionally longest canines of any gorgonopsian. Unlike other gorgonopsians, which probably hunted similarly to predatory reptiles, Smilesaurus probably was a true saber-toothed predator which hunted using similar tactics to saber-toothed cats. It can be distinguished by other rubidgeines by its lack of cranial pachyostosis and rugosoties, and by its relatively small orbits.

Classification

The classification of Smilesaurus has been disputed. It has often been included in Rubidgeinae, but it differs from other members of the clade considerably. Instead, it may be more closely related to Arctops, a position supported by a phylogenetic analysis in 2018.

Restoration

Below is a cladogram of Gorgonopsia from Bendel et al., 2018:

Nochnitsa

Viatkogorgon

Suchogorgon

Sauroctonus

Pravoslavlevia

Inostrancevia

Eriphostoma

Gorgonops

Cynariops

Lycaenops

Smilesaurus

Arctops

Arctognathus

Rubidgeinae

Aelurognathus

Ruhuhucerberus

Sycosaurus

Rubidgeini

Leontosaurus

Dinogorgon

Clelandina

Rubidgea

See also

References

  1. ^ Kammerer, Christian F. (2016). "Systematics of the Rubidgeinae (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia)". PeerJ. 4: e1608. doi:10.7717/peerj.1608. PMC 4730894. PMID 26823998.
  2. Broom, Robert (1947). "A contribution to our knowledge of the vertebrates of the Karroo Beds of South Africa". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 61 (2): 577–629. doi:10.1017/S0080456800004865.
  3. Sigogneau-Russell, Denise (1989). Wellnhofer, Peter (ed.). Theriodontia I: Phthinosuchia, Biarmosuchia, Eotitanosuchia, Gorgonopsia. Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Vol. 17 B/I. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag. ISBN 3437304879.
  4. Kammerer, Christian F.; Masyutin, Vladimir (2016). "Gorgonopsian therapsids (Nochnitsa gen. nov. and Viatkogorgon) from the Permian Kotelnich locality of Russia". PeerJ. 6: e4954. doi:10.7717/peerj.4954. PMC 5995105. PMID 29900078.
  5. Bendel, Eva-Maria; Kammerer, Christian F.; Kardjilov, Nikolay; Fernandez, Vincent; Fröbisch, Jörg (2018-11-28). "Cranial anatomy of the gorgonopsian Cynariops robustus based on CT-reconstruction". PLOS ONE. 13 (11): –0207367. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1307367B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207367. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6261584. PMID 30485338.

External links

Gorgonopsia
Synapsida
Gorgonopsia
    • see below↓
Gorgonopsia
Gorgonopsia
Russian clade
African clade
Rubidgeinae
Rubidgeini
Nomina dubia
Gorgonops whaitsii
Taxon identifiers
Smilesaurus


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