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Pelorocephalus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pelorocephalus
Temporal range: Carnian
Skull of Pelorocephalus mendozensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
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]

Phylogeny

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Pelorocephalus in a cladogram of Brachyopoidea adapted from Ruta et al. (2007):[3]

Brachyopoidea


References

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  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". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2232829. ISSN 0272-4634.
  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:APOTBT]2.0.CO;2. hdl:11336/93649.
  3. ^ 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. PMC 2293949. PMID 17925278.
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