Sinokannemeyeria

Live reconstruction vonSinokannemeyeria

• China

Sinokannemeyeria was a Dicynodontier who lived in the Lower Triassic. Specimens have been found so far exclusively in China.

Features

Sinokannemeyeria reached up to three meters in length and 500 kilograms in weight. The legs were muscular built and heavy, and not allowing for any fast running. The front legs were well suited for digging, with which the animal was looking in the soil after plants and tubers. It had short tusks, probably in mating battles played a role. Unlike other Dicynodontiern the muscles of mastication were not as pronounced.

System

The therapsids were a large reptile family, which had mammal characteristics. Therefore they were called mammal -like reptiles. Sinokannemeyeria belonged to the Anomodontia, a subclass of the therapsids. Anomodontia were usually relatively large animals that became extinct in the Jurassic and fed exclusively herbivores. Sinokannemeyeria is placed in the group of Kannemeyeriidae, which also included representatives known as Placerias.