Dinopedia
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Estemmenosuchus
Estemmen ural male new
A restoration of Estemmenosuchus uralensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
clade: Synapsida
Order: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Family: Estemmenosuchidae
Genus: Estemmenosuchus
Tchudinov, 1960
Referred species
  • Estemmenosuchus mirabilis
    (Tchudinov, 1968)
  • Estemmenosuchus uralensis
    (Tchudinov, 1960) (type)
Synonyms
  • Anoplosuchus tenuirostris Tchudinov, 1968
  • Zopherosuchus luceus Tchudinov, 1963

Estemmenosuchus is a omnivorous Therapsid from middle Permian Russia. Roughly 2–3 m in length, it was a herbivore. It had rounded, smoothly interlocking teeth with which it cropped the Permian vegetation, and a series of strange bumps and outcroppings on its head - the scientists believe that it used them in fights for females and territory. Estemmenosuchus was either a semi-aquatic animal like the modern hippopotamus, or fully terrestrial, like a rhinoceros. 

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