Biology:Pelorocephalus

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Short description: Extinct genus of amphibians

Pelorocephalus
Temporal range: Carnian
Pelorocephalus tunuyaensis.JPG
Skull of Pelorocephalus mendozensis
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Temnospondyli
Suborder: Stereospondyli
Family: Chigutisauridae
Genus: Pelorocephalus
Cabrera 1944
Type species
Pelorocephalus mendozensis
Cabrera 1944
Species
  • P. cacheutensis (Rusconi 1953) (originally Chigutisaurus cacheutensis)
  • P. ischigualastensis Bonaparte 1975
  • P. mendozensis Cabrera 1944 (type)
  • P. tenax (Rusconi 1949) (originally Chigutisaurus tenax)
Life restoration of Pelorocephalus tenax
Life restoration of Pelorocephalus mendozensis

Pelorocephalus (meaning "monstrous head" in Greek) is an extinct genus of chigutisaurid temnospondyls.[1] It is known from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Cacheutá Formation of the Cuyo Basin and the Ischigualasto Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, both in northwestern Argentina . Four species are currently recognized: the type species P. mendozensis, which was named in 1944, P. tenax, which was named in 1949 as a species of Chigutisaurus and reassigned to Pelorocephalus in 1999, and P. cacheutensis, which was named in 1953 as another species of Chigutisaurus and reassigned to Pelorocephalus along with P. tenax. A fourth species, P. ischigualastensis, was named in 1975 after the formation it was found in. The species P. tunuyanensis was named in 1948 but has since been synonymized with P. mendozensis.[2] The largest individuals are estimated to have reached 107 centimetres (42 in) in length.[3]

Phylogeny

Pelorocephalus in a cladogram of Brachyopoidea adapted from Ruta et al. (2007):[4]

Brachyopoidea
 Brachyopidae 

Sinobrachyops

Xenobrachyops

Banksiops

Batrachosaurus

Vanastega

Vigilius

Batrachosuchus

 Chigutisauridae 

Chigutisaurus

Compsocerops

Kuttycephalus

Pelorocephalus

Siderops


References

  1. Hart, Lachlan J.; Gee, Bryan M.; Smith, Patrick M.; McCurry, Matthew R. (2023-08-03). "A new chigutisaurid (Brachyopoidea, Temnospondyli) with soft tissue preservation from the Triassic Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia" (in en). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2232829. ISSN 0272-4634. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2232829. 
  2. Warren, A.; Marsicano, C. (2000). "A phylogeny of the Brachyopoidea (Temnospondyli, Stereospondyli)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20 (3): 462. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0462:APOTBT2.0.CO;2]. 
  3. "Prehistoric amphibians". http://www.angellis.net/Web/PDfiles/amphs.pdf. 
  4. Ruta, M.; Pisani, D.; Lloyd, G. T.; Benton, M. J. (2007). "A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274 (1629): 3087–3095. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1250. PMID 17925278. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q630146 entry