Pelorocephalus (meaning "monstrous head" in Greek) is an extinct genus of chigutisaurid temnospondyls.[1] It is known from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Cacheutá Formation of the Cuyo Basin and the Ischigualasto Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, both in northwestern Argentina. Four species are currently recognized: the type species P. mendozensis, which was named in 1944, P. tenax, which was named in 1949 as a species of Chigutisaurus and reassigned to Pelorocephalus in 1999, and P. cacheutensis, which was named in 1953 as another species of Chigutisaurus and reassigned to Pelorocephalus along with P. tenax. A fourth species, P. ischigualastensis, was named in 1975 after the formation it was found in. The species P. tunuyanensis was named in 1948 but has since been synonymized with P. mendozensis.[2]
| Pelorocephalus Temporal range: Carnian
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| Skull of Pelorocephalus mendozensis | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
| Family: | †Chigutisauridae |
| Genus: | †Pelorocephalus Cabrera 1944 |
| Type species | |
| Pelorocephalus mendozensis Cabrera 1944
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| Species | |
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Phylogeny edit
Pelorocephalus in a cladogram of Brachyopoidea adapted from Ruta et al. (2007):[3]
References edit
- ^ Hart, Lachlan J.; Gee, Bryan M.; Smith, Patrick M.; McCurry, Matthew R. (2023-08-03). "A new chigutisaurid (Brachyopoidea, Temnospondyli) with soft tissue preservation from the Triassic Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2232829. ISSN 0272-4634.
- ^ Warren, A.; Marsicano, C. (2000). "A phylogeny of the Brachyopoidea (Temnospondyli, Stereospondyli)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20 (3): 462. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0462:APOTBT]2.0.CO;2. hdl:11336/93649.
- ^ Ruta, M.; Pisani, D.; Lloyd, G. T.; Benton, M. J. (2007). "A supertree of Temnospondyli: cladogenetic patterns in the most species-rich group of early tetrapods". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 274 (1629): 3087–3095. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1250. PMC 2293949. PMID 17925278.
External links edit
- "Pelorocephalus". Palaeos. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021.
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