Anthodon (reptile)


Anthodon is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Permian period of South Africa and Tanzania.

Description

This small form combines the primitive feature of interpterygoid fenestra with an advanced feature of turtle-like armour. It was about in length, and weighed around. Small dermal ossicles covered the body, while the pattern of armour plates on the back reminiscent of a turtle shell. The tail was further shortened relative to less derived forms. Some other forms are characterized by having smooth skulls and armor on the dorsal midline.

Skull

The skull was small, and the cheekbones unornamented as in other pareiasaurids. The skull is 30 cm in length and quite lightly built. The cheekbones form very large quadratojugal "horns" that extend downwards to a great degree, but with a smooth unornamented surface. The mandible has ventral protrusions. The postparietals are fused and, along with the tabulars, located on the skull roof, as in more primitive diadectomorphs. There are 11 to 14 pairs of overlapping teeth, of small and uniform size, each with 8 to 15 cusps, giving them, as with all pareiasaurs, a leaf-like or flower like appearance, hence the generic name "flower tooth".

History

, who described Anthodon, thought it was a dinosaur because dinosaurian skull material from the Early Cretaceous had become associated with the Permian material. The dinosaur material was later separated out by Robert Broom in 1912 and was renamed as the stegosaurid Paranthodon by Franz Nopcsa in 1929.