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Keratocephalus

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Keratocephalus
Temporal range: Capitanian
Skeleton of Keratocephalus moloch
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Family: Tapinocephalidae
Subtribe: Tapinocephalina
Genus: Keratocephalus
von Huene, 1931
Species:
K. moloch
Binomial name
Keratocephalus moloch
von Huene, 1931
Synonyms
  • Pelosuchus Broom, 1905

Keratocephalus ("horned head") is an extinct genus of tapinocephalian therapsids from the early Capitanian age of South Africa.[1] It was found in the Lower and Middle Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Karoo deposits, in the Lower Beaufort Beds in Beaufort West

Description

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Restoration
Front view

It was 2.5 to 3 m (8 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) long, with 50 cm (20 in) long skull and had a mass of 700 to 1,000 kg (1,500 to 2,200 lb) with a variable snout length, variable pachyostosis with a nasofrontal boss raised into a horn-like shape.

Classification

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Keratocephalus moloch, known from a number of greatly variable skulls, along with postcrania, from the Lower and Middle Tapinocephalus zone, shows considerable variability in the pachyostotic development. It may be not as derived as Tapinocephalus. The naso-frontal boss is raised into a sort of horn (hence the name - "horned head") and the length of the snout varies greatly. This in itself throws doubt on Boonstra's distinction between short and long-snouted forms. Pelosuchus, known only on the basis of postcranial features, is a synonym of this genus.

Sources

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  1. ^ "Keratocephalus moloch". Palaeocritti. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.

Further reading

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  • Huene, F. von., 1931. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Fauna der sudafrikanischen Karrooformation: Geologische und Palaeontologische Abhandlungen, v. 18, p. 159-227.
  • Romer, Alfred Sherwood (1956). The Osteology of the Reptiles. OCLC 236743.
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