Brachyprosopus

Brachyprosopus; Temporal range: Middle Permian, 270–265 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Life Restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Synapsida
Order:	Therapsida
Suborder:	Anomodontia
Infraorder:	Dicynodontia
Genus:	Brachyprosopus; Olson, 1937
Type species
	Brachyprosopus broomi; Olson, 1937
Synonyms
	Chelydontops altidentalis Cluver, 1975;

Brachyprosopus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the middle Permian Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in the Abrahamskraal Formation belonging to the Beaufort Group of the Karoo Basin, South Africa.^[1]

Chelydontops Cluver, 1975, based on a skull from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, is a junior synonym.^[1]

Description

Brachyprosopus is similar to Endothiodon, Niassodon, and Pristerodon in having absence of anterior median palatal ridges; maxillary tooth rows bounded laterally by a shelf; unfused vomers; raised margins of the interpterygoid vacuity; broad intertemporal region; pineal boss; dentary tables; and a long, wide posterior dentary sulcus that extends posterior to the dentary teeth. However, it can be distinguished by the autapomorphy of a curled lateral edge of the squamosal that forms a lateral wall of the external adductor fossa.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Angielczyk, Kenneth D; Rubidge, Bruce S; Day, Michael O; Lin, Florence (2016). "A reevaluation of Brachyprosopus broomi and Chelydontops altidentalis, dicynodonts (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the middle Permian Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin, South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (2): e1078342. Bibcode:2016JVPal..36E8342A. doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1078342. S2CID 130520407.