Knoxosaurus
Extinct genus of synapsids
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knoxosaurus is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsids containing the species Knoxosaurus niteckii that existed approximately 279.5 to 268 million years ago.[1] It was named by American paleontologist Everett C. Olson in 1962 on the basis of fragmentary fossils from Middle Permian-age deposits in the San Angelo Formation of Texas in the United States.[2] Olson placed Knoxosaurus in a new infraorder called Eotheriodontia, which he considered a transitional group between the more reptile-like "pelycosaurs" and the more mammal-like therapsids. Knoxosaurus and Olson's other eotheriodonts were later considered to be undiagnostic remains of basal synapsids, no more closely related to therapsids than are other pelycosaur-grade synapsids.[3]
| Knoxosaurus Temporal range: Middle Permian, | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Knoxosaurus Olson, 1962 |
| Type species | |
| †Knoxosaurus niteckii Olson, 1962 | |