Criocephalosaurus
| Criocephalosaurus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Criocephalosaurus skull, South African Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Dinocephalia |
| Family: | †Tapinocephalidae |
| Subtribe: | †Moschopina |
| Genus: | †Criocephalosaurus Kammerer & Sidor, 2002 |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Criocephalosaurus (Greek for “ram head lizard”) is an extinct genus of tapinocephalian therapsids that lived in Southern Africa during the Guadalupian epoch of the Permian. They are the latest surviving dinocephalians, extending past the Abrahamskraal Formation into the lowermost Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation in South Africa. They are also regarded as the most derived of the dinocephalians, alongside Tapinocephalus, and the most abundant in the fossil record.