Purlovia
| Purlovia Temporal range: Late Permian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restoration of Purlovia maxima | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Therocephalia |
| Family: | †Nanictidopidae |
| Genus: | †Purlovia Ivakhnenko, 2011 |
| Type species | |
| †P. maxima Ivakhnenko, 2011 | |
Purlovia is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsid from the Late Permian of Russia. Together with the closely related South African genus Nanictidops, it is a member of the family Nanictidopidae. Fossils have been found from the Tonshayevsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. The type species of Purlovia, P. maxima, was named in 2011.
In comparison to other therocephalians, Purlovia has a very wide skull due to a widened temporal region. Viewed from above, it looks roughly triangular. The skull is about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, with nearly half its length in the postorbital region behind the eye sockets. It has large canine teeth and smaller buccal, or cheek teeth, along the thick upper and lower jaws. The lower jaw is robust and curved upward, with a well-developed symphyseal region where the two halves of the jaw meet.[1]
References
- ↑ Ivakhnenko, M.F. (2011). "Permian and Triassic therocephals (Eutherapsida) of Eastern Europe". Paleontological Journal 45 (9): 981–1144. doi:10.1134/S0031030111090012.