LOCALITY:
Isheevo, Tatarstan.AGE:
Late Permian, Zone II, 250 million years ago
SIZE:
About the size of a large bull.
MEANING OF NAME:
'Reptile from the Ulema River'
PRONUNCIATION:
You-leam-o-SAWR-us
CLASSIFICATION:
THERAPSIDA: Dinocephalia; Tapinocephalidae
Partial skeleton of a large herbivorous reptile in the
Dinocephalia. Several skulls and skeletons of this
species were recovered from sandstones that appear to
represent high-energy flood deposits.
The bone in the skull of this animal was extremely
dense. Like Estemmenosuchus found in Zone I, this
reptile would seem to have been a herbivore. However, in
both cases it has been suggested by some researchers that
these animals were carnivores, biting their prey by
rapidly slamming the lower jaw shut against the upper,
with the front teeth acting as blades. With the heavy
construction of the lower jaw, there would probably have
been enough momentum to cut flesh in this manner.
Palaeontologists who regard them as vegetarians point
out that their small side teeth and their front teeth
were evidently adapted for gripping vegetation. These
scientists suggest that very little food processing went
on in the mouth, but that most took place in the stomach
and intestines. The teeth were mainly just for gathering
the food.
Ulemosaurus was a gigantic animal with a very
thick frontal bone that sometimes reached 10 cm in
thickness. Some palaentologists think that this was a
specialisation for head butting behaviour. This
mammal-like reptile had a thickened bony dome on the top
of its head.
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