Cistecephalus

Cistecephalus
Temporal range: Wuchiapingian,
Skull in front view, Natural History Museum, Bonn University
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Family: Cistecephalidae
Genus: Cistecephalus
Owen, 1876
Type species
Cistecephalus microrhinus
Owen, 1876

Cistecephalus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of southern Africa (South Africa and Zambia). It was a small, specialised, burrowing dicynodont, possibly with habits similar to a modern mole. The head was flattened and wedge-shaped, the body long, and the forelimbs very strong, with similarities in structure to the forelimb of modern burrowing mammals.

It was one of the first genera of dicynodonts to be described, by Richard Owen, in 1876.

Cistecephalus could reach up to 60 centimetres (24 in) in length.

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