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Nikkasaurus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nikkasaurus
Temporal range: middle Permian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Biarmosuchia
Family: Nikkasauridae
Genus: Nikkasaurus
Ivahnenko, 2000
Species:
N. tatarinovi
Binomial name
Nikkasaurus tatarinovi
Ivahnenko, 2000

Nikkasaurus is an extinct genus of therapsids first named and described by Ivakhnenko.

Description

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Nikkasaurus was a small therapsid, with a skull about 5 cm long. The eyes had large orbits and sclerotic rings, and the head was tilted back, as with all therapsids. The skull looks superficially similar to those of the pelycosaurs, in particular members of Varanopidae.

Biology

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Nikkasaurus was probably mainly insectivorous, and possibly nocturnal.

Systematics

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The only known species is the type species N. tatarinovi, described by MF Ivahnenko in 2000, from the Middle Permian Mezen River Basin. Nikkasaurus is possibly a relic of a more ancient stage of therapsid development.[1][2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ M. F. Ivakhnenko, 2000. The Nikkasauridae-Problematic Primitive Therapsids from the Late Permian of the Mezen Localities. Paleontol. J. 34(Suppl. 2), 179–186.
  2. ^ M. F. Ivakhnenko. 2008. Podklass Ophiacomorpha. In M. F. Ivakhnenko and E. N. Kurochkin (eds.), Iskopaemye pozvonotchnye Rossii i sopredel'nykh stran: Iskopaemye reptilii i ptitsy, Tchast' 1 [Fossil vertebrates of Russia and adjacent countries: Fossil reptiles and birds, Part 1], GEOS, Moscow 95-100
  • Kemp, Thomas Stainforth (2005). The Origin and Evolution of Mammals. ISBN 0-19-850760-7.