Elph (therapsid)
| Elph Temporal range: Late Permian, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Elphidae |
| Subfamily: | †Elphinae |
| Genus: | †Elph Kurkin, 1999 |
| Species: | †E. borealis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Elph borealis Kurkin, 1999 | |
Elph (an arbitrary combination of letters[1]) is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsids from Russia. Four specimens have been found from the Sokolki Assemblage in European Russia, representing a fauna that dates back to the Late Permian.[2] The holotype, PIN 2353/37, was originally considered a juvenile specimen due to its small size (with a total skull length of 10.6 cm (4.2 in)), before being recognized as a mature individual.[1]
Elph was a small herbivore that lived alongside carnivorous akidnognathids and inostranceviids, as well as larger herbivores like Dicynodon and pareiasaurids.[3] The type species E. borealis was named in 1999. Elph has a short snout and tusks, and it is closely related to Interpresosaurus and Katumbia within the family Elphidae.[4] Kurkin (2012) proposed that features like short preorbital region of skull and tusk aligned with the anterior part of orbit could suggest close ecological and phylogenetic affinities between Elph and Dicynodon amalitzkii, although no computational analysis was done.[5]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Kurkin, A.A. (1999). "A New Dicynodont from the Malaya Severnaya Dvina River Excavations". Paleontological Journal. 33 (3): 297–301.
- ↑ Angielczyk, K.D.; Kurkin, A.A. (2003). "Phylogenetic analysis of Russian Permian dicynodonts (Therapsida: Anomodontia): implications for Permian biostratigraphy and Pangaean biogeography". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (2): 157–212. doi:10.1046/j.1096-3642.2003.00081.x.
- ↑ Golubev, V.K. (2000). "The faunal assemblages of Permian terrestrial vertebrates from Eastern Europe" (PDF). Paleontological Journal. 34 (Suppl. 2): S211–S224.
- ↑ Angielczyk, K.D. (2007). "New specimens of the Tanzanian dicynodont "Cryptocynodon" parringtoni Von Huene, 1942 (Therapsida, Anomodontia), with an expanded analysis of Permian dicynodont phylogeny". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (1): 116–131. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[116:NSOTTD]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86308349.
- ↑ Kurkin, A. A. (March 2012). "Dicynodontids of Eastern Europe". Paleontological Journal. 46 (2): 187–198. doi:10.1134/S003103011201008X. ISSN 0031-0301.
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