Titanophoneus

Skeletal reconstruction of Titanophoneus potens

• Russia ( Ischejewo, Tatarstan )

• Titanophoneus potens Yefremov, 1938
• Titanophoneus adamanteus Orlov, 1958

Titanophoneus ( " Giant Killer " ) is an extinct genus of carnivorous therapsids earlier (a group of " early mammal relatives " ) from the Mittelperm ( Capitanium ) of Russia. The first scientific description of the type species Titanophoneus potens Ivan Antonovich Yefremov comes from from the year 1938.

With up to 5 meters in body length and weighing up to 600 kg Titanophoneus belonged together with Doliosauriscus and Anteosaurus the largest known members of the Anteosauriden and was the Spitzenprädator its ecosystem. Titanophoneus still had many primitive features such as the long tail and short limbs.

Fossil record and Body

Fossils of the long time single valid way Titanophoneus potens were found in the vicinity of the village Ischejewo in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. The remains of the second kind Titanophoneus adamanteus, which was originally placed in the genus Doliosauriscus, coming from the area of the small uranium in the Orenburg Oblast.

Thanks to a well-preserved skull and a nearly complete, resulting in anatomical association skeleton of a young animal Titanophoneus potens is the best known Anteosaurier. The skull of the baby animal measured 26 inches in length, the length of the skull of an adult animal is therefore estimated to be approximately 80 inches and the maximum body length to 3 to 5 meters, which corresponds to the size of a large Anteosaurus.

The long snout was armed with twelve large incisors and two saber- tooth-like fangs. The teeth in the back of the snout were much smaller. The temple openings were larger than Estemmenosuchus, but smaller and less developed than in Inostrancevia. The short splayed limbs of the body, the long tail, long snout and the construction of the pool reminiscent of the primitive features of sphenacodontiden Pelycosaurier. However, the thigh bones are more slender than in the Pelycosauriern.

The skull of Titanophoneus was high and narrow. The opening for the Parietalorgan lying on a Bone excess, which was formed by the parietals. The frontal bone and the upper edge of the eye sockets were also thickened with rough excrescences.