Athena Review Image Archive ™
Jonkeria ingens skeleton
Skeleton of Jonkeria ingens (after Broom 1929)
Jonkeria was
a large, Late Permian therapsid from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage
Zone, Lower Beaufort Group, in the Karoo region of South Africa. It
dated from about 260-255 mya.
It is classified as a dinocephalian, in the family Titanosuchidae The Dinocephalians ("terrible heads") were one of three groups of therapsids or "mammal like reptiles" found in the South African Late Permian deposits. The Titanosuchidae include Jonkeria and the genus Titanosuchus. Their skulls show close similarities, retaining the primitive form of the anteosaurs, including a thickened frontal bone at the top, with a large pineal foramen. While Titanosuchus was a carnivore, Jonkeria is thought to have been an omnivore, or a partial herbivore, sometimes eating plants.
Jonkeria ingens, defined by Broom (1929), was large and robustly built, 4-5 m long, with stout limbs. It had a typically long, dinocephalian snout, with large, sharp incisors and canines, but small cheek teeth or molars. A total of six Jonkeria species have been named (Boonstra 1969).
References:
Boonstra, L. D. 1969. The Fauna of the Tapincephalus Zone (Beaufort Beds of the Karoo). Annals of the South Afrrican. Museum. 56 (1) 1-73, pp. 35–38
Broom, Robert. 1929.
Copyright © 1996-2020 Rust Family Foundation (All Rights Reserved).