Anteosaurinae
Temporal range: Middle Permian,
Skeleton of the anteosaurine Titanophoneus potens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Family: Anteosauridae
Subfamily: Anteosaurinae
Boonstra, 1954
Subgroups

Anteosaurinae is an extinct subfamily of dinocephalian therapsids. It is one of two subfamilies in the family Anteosauridae, the other being Syodontinae.[1]

Description

These are very specialized, very large anteosaurs. The postcanine teeth are further reduced. Deepening of the postorbital region of the skull (behind the eyes) produced a larger temporal opening, indicating more muscle mass. The boss on the angular (rear of the jaw) has become very prominent, again, another sign of powerful jaw muscles. These huge animals were clearly formidable predators.

In the Anteosaurinae, pachyostosis is taken to extremes. The dorsal (upper) surface of the nasal, frontal, and postfrontals (around and between/above the eyes) is thickened and rugose in the same manner as the tapinocephalids. Nevertheless these animals are too specialized and too late in time to have been the ancestors of the herbivorous tapinocephalids, so these characteristics evolved independently.

Boonstra notes that the hip joint and the femur of Anteosaurus is comparable with those of the crocodile and that these animals may have had a crawling habit. In view of the carnivorous dentition, he believes them to have been slinking predators.

Classification

Below is a cladogram showing syodontine relationships from a 2012 phylogenetic study of anteosaurians:[2]

Therapsida

Biarmosuchus tener

Dinocephalia

Estemmenosuchus uralensis

Ulemosaurus svijagensis

Tapinocaninus pamelae

Anteosauridae

Archaeosyodon praeventor

Anteosaurinae

Sinophoneus yumenensis

Titanophoneus adamanteus

Titanophoneus potens

Anteosaurus magnificus

Syodontinae

Pampaphoneus biccai

Notosyodon gusevi

Syodon biarmicum

Australosyodon nyaphuli

References

  1. Kammerer, C.F. (2011). "Systematics of the Anteosauria (Therapsida: Dinocephalia)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (2): 261–304. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.492645. S2CID 84799772.
  2. Cisneros, J.C.; Abdala, F.; Atayman-Güven, S.; Rubidge, B.S.; Şengör, A.M.C.; Schultz, C.L. (2012). "Carnivorous dinocephalian from the Middle Permian of Brazil and tetrapod dispersal in Pangaea". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109 (5): 1584–1588. doi:10.1073/pnas.1115975109. PMC 3277192. PMID 22307615.
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