Tetragonias
| Tetragonias Temporal range: Anisian ~ | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Shansiodontidae |
| Genus: | †Tetragonias Cruickshank 1967 |
| Type species | |
| Tetragonias njalilus (von Huene 1942) | |
| Species | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
Tetragonias is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Anisian Manda Beds of Tanzania. With tetra meaning “four,” and goni meaning “angle,” the name references the square shape of the Tetragonias skull when viewed dorsally. Not to be confused with the plant Tetragonia, Tetragonias were dicynodont anomodonts discovered in the late 1960s by paleontologist A. R. I. Cruickshank in the Manda Formation. Only the type species, T. njalilus, has been recognized.
Originally thought to have existed during the lower Middle Triassic age, also called the Anisian age, Gay and Cruickshank (1999) later postulated that the Manda Formation may have actually been of the Ladinian age. This terrestrial herbivore was determined to have relation to the genera Lystrosaurus and Kannemeyeria.