Tapinocephalia

The Tapinocephalia are one of the major groups of dinocephalian therapsids and the major herbivorous group. Tapinocephalia has been found to consist of three clades: Styracocephalidae, Titanosuchidae, and the very successful Tapinocephalidae. Notable tapinocephalians include Moschops, Tapinocephalus, and Titanosuchus.

Tapinocephalia

Creator:Dmitry Bogdanov · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DinocephaliaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 4.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 264.28 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 67 occurrencesPermian — about 67 of 67 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 67 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences284–282 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 6 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 9 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 18 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 18 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 10 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences256–254 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences264.28 Mya – 259.857 Mya299.8 Mya251 Mya

67 occurrences of Tapinocephalia on record, most of them in the Permian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

67 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Abrahamskraal — 32.42°S, 22.37°EAbrahamskraal — 32.97°S, 22.02°EAbrahamskraal — 32.35°S, 22.58°EAbrahamskraal — 32.91°S, 22.03°EAbrahamskraal — 32.47°S, 21.77°EAbrahamskraal — 32.86°S, 22.11°EAbrahamskraal — 32.49°S, 21.98°EAbrahamskraal — 32.37°S, 22.00°EAbrahamskraal — 32.50°S, 22.30°EAbrahamskraal — 32.49°S, 22.17°EAbrahamskraal — 33.11°S, 22.54°EAmanakskaya — 53.37°N, 52.81°EAmanakskaya — 52.32°N, 54.40°EAmanakskaya — 52.26°N, 54.85°ERio do Rasto — 30.02°S, 54.15°WRio do Rasto — 24.00°S, 51.11°WBolshekinelskaya — 52.55°N, 54.15°EBolshekinelskaya — 51.77°N, 55.37°ETeekloof — 32.39°S, 22.55°ETeekloof — 32.63°S, 22.44°ERuhuhu — 10.35°S, 35.00°EMadumabisa Mudstone — 16.52°S, 27.95°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tapinocephalia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tapinocephalia and its relatives

Permian

Where Tapinocephalia and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

140 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Tapinocephalia, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

13 references

Each of the 67 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 1 further reference is not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Tapinocephalia

Credit
Creator:Dmitry Bogdanov
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDinocephalia through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.