Theriognathus
| Theriognathus Temporal range: Wuchiapingian, 260.4–253.8Ma | |
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| T. laticeps skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Synapsida |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | Therocephalia |
| Family: | Whaitsiidae |
| Genus: | Theriognathus Owen, 1876 |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Theriognathus is an extinct genus of therapsid from South Africa. It is a large therocephalian belonging to the family Whaitsiidae. In 1980, most whaitsiid genera were synonymized with Theriognathus, creating two new species. Theriognathus major was the new combination for Whaitsia major, and Theriognathus laticeps was the new combination for Notosollasia laticeps.[1] Whaitsiids like Theriognathus were once thought to be closely related to cynodonts, and were even thought to be ancestral to Cynodontia.[2] A 2008 study found Therocephalia to be paraphyletic and placed Theriognathus as the sister-group to Cynodontia.[3] In 2009, another phylogenetic analysis of therocephalians found that the group was monophyletic and placed Theriognathus in a deeply nested position within the clade.[4]
References
- ↑ Brink, A.S. (1980). "On the genus Theriognathus Owen (including Whaitsia, Notosollasia, Alopecopsis, Notaelurops, Moschorhynchus and Aneugomphius)". Annals of the Geological Survey, Pretoria 14: 1–37.
- ↑ Kemp, T.S. (1972). "Whaitsiid Therocephalia and the origin of cynodonts". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 264 (857): 1–54.
- ↑ Abdala, F.; Rubidge, B. S.; Van Den Heever, J. (2008). "The Oldest Therocephalians (Therapsida, Eutheriodontia) and the Early Diversification of Therapsida". Palaeontology 51 (4): 1011. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00784.x.
- ↑ Huttenlocker, A. (2009). "An investigation into the cladistic relationships and monophyly of therocephalian therapsids (Amniota: Synapsida)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 157 (4): 865–891. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00538.x.
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