Dinocephalia

Common card · No. 329734

Dinocephalia (from Ancient Greek δεινός deinos, "terrible" and κεφαλή kephalḗ, "head") is a clade of generally large-bodied therapsids that flourished during Middle Permian (Guadalupian epoch) between approximately 275 and 260 million years ago (Ma), but became extinct during the Capitanian mass extinction event. Dinocephalians included carnivorous (Anteosauria), as well as herbivorous and omnivorous (Tapinocephalia) forms, serving as both dominant megaherbivores and apex predators. Many species had thickened skulls with many knobs and bony projections. Dinocephalians were the first non-mammalian therapsids to be scientifically described and their fossils are known from Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania.

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