Kannemeyeria

Kannemeyeria is a genus of kannemeyeriid dicynodont that lived during the Anisian age of Middle Triassic period in what is now Africa and possibly Europe and Asia as well.[1] The generic name is given in honor of Dr. Daniel Rossouw Kannemeyer, the South African fossil collector who discovered the original specimen.[2] It is one of the first representatives of the family, and hence one of the first large herbivores of the Triassic.

Kannemeyeria Temporal range: Anisian ~247–242 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull of Kannemeyeria simocephalus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	†Dicynodontia
Family:	†Kannemeyeriidae
Genus:	†Kannemeyeria Seeley, 1908
Type species
†Kannemeyeria simocephalus Weithofer, 1888
Species
K. simocephalus Weithofer, 1888 K. lophorhinus Renaut et al., 2003
Synonyms
Genus Synonymy Proplacerias Cruickshank, 1970 Ptychocynodon Seeley, 1904 Sagecephalus Jaekel, 1926 Shaanbeikannemeyeria? Cheng, 1980 Uralokannemeyeria? Danilov, 1971 Species Synonymy Dicynodon latifrons Broom, 1889 Kannemeyeria erithrea Haughton, 1915 Kannemeyeria proboscoides Seeley, 1908 Kannemeyeria wilsoni Cruickshank, 1970 Proplacerias vanhoepeni Camp, 1956 Ptychocynodon pentangulatus Seeley, 1904 Sagecephalus pachyrhynchus Jaekel, 1926

Description

Restoration of Kannemeyeria

Kannemeyeria was about 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length, about the size of an ox. Although it had a large head, it was lightweight due to the size of the eye sockets and nasal cavity. It also had limb girdles which formed massive plates of bone that helped support its heavily built body.[3] Despite the large size, Kannemeyeria may have been prey to large thecodonts like Erythrosuchus.[4]

Kannemeyeria was well-adapted to living as a herbivore; it had a powerful beak and strong jaw muscles built for shearing plant material.[3] Kannemeyeria had a massive head with unusually large openings for the eyes, nostrils and jaw muscles. It evidently tore up roots, stripped leaves from the vegetation with its horny break and ground them up with its toothless jaws.[5]

Distribution

Kannemeyeria skull

Kannemeyeria is known from the Subzone B of Burgersdorp Formation of South Africa, the Ntawere Formation of Zambia, the Omingonde Formation of Namibia, the Lifua member of Manda Formation of Tanzania.[6]

If the synonymy of the genus Shaanbeikannemeyeria from Hessahngou Formation and Lower Ermaying Formation of China and Uralokannemeyeria from Donguz Formation of Russia is correct then Kannemeyeria had a wider distribution. The presence of Kannemeyeria in South America have been refuted.[6]

Classification

Life reconstruction of Kannemeyeria simocephalus

Below is a cladogram from Kammerer et al. (2013):[7]

Kannemeyeriiformes

Angonisaurus     Shansiodontidae     Tetragonias     Vinceria         Shansiodon     Rhinodicynodon           Dinodontosaurus         Shaanbeikannemeyeria       Kannemeyeria simocephalus     Kannemeyeria lophorhinus             Parakannemeyeria     Xiyukannemeyeria           Dolichuranus       Rechnisaurus     Uralokannemeyeria           Rhadiodromus       Sinokannemeyeria         Rabidosaurus     Wadiasaurus     Stahleckeriidae Placeriinae   Zambiasaurus       Placerias     Moghreberia       Stahleckeriinae   Stahleckeria         Eubrachiosaurus     Sangusaurus         Jachaleria     Ischigualastia

See also

• List of therapsids

References

1. "Kannemeyeria". Fossilworks. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
2. "Kannemeyeria". Paleofile. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
3. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 191. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
4. "Kannemeyeria". Prehistoric Wildlife. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
5. Cloudsley-Thompson, John L. (2005). Ecology and Behaviour of Mesozoic Reptiles (2005 ed.). Springer. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-3540224211. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
6. Chinsamy-Turan, Anusuya (2011). Forerunners of Mammals: Radiation • Histology • Biology. Indiana University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-253-00533-5. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
7. Kammerer, C. F.; Fröbisch, J. R.; Angielczyk, K. D. (2013). Farke, Andrew A (ed.). "On the Validity and Phylogenetic Position of Eubrachiosaurus browni, a Kannemeyeriiform Dicynodont (Anomodontia) from Triassic North America". PLoS ONE. 8 (5): e64203. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064203. PMC 3669350. PMID 23741307.