Lupeosaurus

Lupeosaurus is an extinct genus of pelycosaurian synapsids, assigned to the family Edaphosauridae.[1]

Lupeosaurus Temporal range: Early Permian, 295 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Family:	†Edaphosauridae
Genus:	†Lupeosaurus Romer, 1937
Species:	†L. kayi
Binomial name
†Lupeosaurus kayi Romer, 1937

Classification

It is known from only two described specimens, both consisting of postcranial bits and pieces. The most significant item is the absence of cross-bars on the neural spines. This left considerable doubt about the affinities of Lupeosaurus. However, the vertebrae and neural spines are otherwise entirely edaphosaurid. Unfortunately, these, and some pieces of the limb girdles, are about all that exist.[2]

Lupeosaurus was 2.5 – 3.3 m long and weighed perhaps as much as 166 kg.[3] The ribs suggest, but only suggest, that it was markedly skinnier than Edaphosaurus and thus not a highly adapted herbivore. Everything known about the limbs suggests that they were massive for an edaphosaur. The robust limbs, combined with presumed thinness, point toward a run-of-the-mill carnivore of some kind. Amphicoelous vertebral centra are a little unusual in a (relatively) powerful carnivore, but this was the primitive and usual condition for early synapsids of all types.[2]

References

1. Benson, R.J. (2012). "Interrelationships of basal synapsids: cranial and postcranial morphological partitions suggest different topologies". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 10 (4): 601–624. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.631042.
2. "Lupeosaurus". Palaeos. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
3. Romer, A.S.; Price, L.W. (1940). Review of the Pelycosauria. Geological Society of America Special Papers. pp. 400, 403. ISBN 9780813720289.

See also

• List of pelycosaurs