Anakamacops

Anakamacops
Temporal range: Middle Permian, 270Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: "Amphibia" (wide sense)
Order: Temnospondyli
Family: Dissorophidae
Genus: Anakamacops
Li and Cheng, 1999
Species
  • A. petrolicus Li and Cheng, 1999 (type)

Anakamacops (meaning "similar to Kamacops" in Greek) is a genus of dissorophid temnospondyl from the early Middle Permian of China. It is known from a partial skull described in 1999 from the Dashankou locality of the Xidagou Formation, which is within the city of Yumen. The type species was named A. petrolicus because Yumen is an oil-producing city (petrol).[1]

Anakamacops is known only from the front portion of the skull. The teeth around the edge of the jaw are sharp and curved. Unlike many other temnospondyls, Anakamacops does not possess teeth on its palate. Most of the palate is smooth, but the vomer, a narrow bone passing through the middle of the palate, is rough. The choanae, two holes through which the nasal passage opens into the mouth, are long, narrow, and positioned along the side of the palate. Anakamacops is similar to the dissorophid Kamacops from Russia in that it has a flat snout, large external nares or nostril openings, and a centrally located depression on the tip of the snout. Kamacops has small teeth on its palate, distinguishing it from Anakamacops.[1]

References