| Sauroscaptor Temporal range: Late Permian, Lopingian 259.51–251.902Ma | |
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| Life restoration by artbyjrc | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Cistecephalidae |
| Genus: | †Sauroscaptor Kammerer et al., 2016 |
| Species: | †S. tharavati Kammerer et al., 2016 |
Sauroscaptor is an extinct genus of small tuskless dicynodont from late Permian period that lived in what is now India. The type and the only known species is S. tharavati.
Description[]
Just like other cistecephalids, Sauroscaptor lacked any tusks, the posterior margin of the parietal foramen sticks out at the back of its skull which giving it a shape similar to chimney. Its skull was narrow, which is not seen in almost all cistecephalids,besides the one known from Zambia, though it is the only known cistecephalid dicynodont that possess tusks.
Discovery and Naming[]
The holotype specimen of Sauroscaptor was discovered by TS kutty during is late 1990s and early 2000s expedition in Pranhita–Godavari Basin of Telangana.
Later in 2016, Christian F. Kammerer and his colleagues from India has described the holotype as a new genus of Dicynodont, Sauroscaptor tharavati. The genus name Sauro is a greek word "saur" for lizard and scaptor is a greek word for "Digger". The species name "tharavati" is in honor of TS kutty or Tharavati S. Kutty as he was the one to discover the fossils.
Classification[]
Sauroscaptor is currently classified as a basal member of Cistecephalidae dicynodonts.