Moschognathus is an extinctgenus of dinocephaliantherapsid in the familyTapinocephalidae. The genus includes only the type speciesM. whaitsi, named by palaeontologistRobert Broom in 1914. It was a short-snouted tapinocephalid, closely related to and resembling the well-known genus Moschops, but its skull is less thickened overall has a relatively longer and shallower snout by comparison. Indeed, Moschognathus has typically been regarded as a junior synonym of Moschops (e.g. by King, 1988 and Atayman et al., 2009)[2][3] since 1969 after Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra sunk Moschognathus into Moschops, albeit retained as its own doubtfully valid species.[4] However, researchers in the 21st century have expressed doubt over this synonymy and suggested that Moschognathus is a distinct taxon after all, including first by Christian Kammerer in a 2009 Ph.D. thesis and formally in 2015 by Alessandra D. S. Boos and colleagues (including Kammerer) in 2015.[1]Moschognathus has since began to re-enter scientific literature of dinocephalians as a valid name and treated distinct from Moschops.[5]
The holotype specimen, AMNH FARB 5602, is a partial skeleton including the upper jaw tips, mandibles, vertebrae (including a complete cervical series from the neck), ribs, and the right pelvis and femur.[1] In addition to the holotype specimen, a complete skull and mandibles have tentatively been assigned to Moschognathus. This specimen, AM 4950, was initially identified as a juvenile Anteosaurus prior to preparation,[6] but was subsequently identified as a subadult Moschops by Julien Benoit and colleagues in 2016 and again in 2017.[7][8] This skull was argued to belong instead to Moschognathus in a Ph.D. thesis by Saniye Neumann, and this proposal was formally adopted in subsequent literature.[5][9]
Palaeobiology
A palaeopathological juvenile specimen of M. whaitsi has been found suggesting that juveniles of the species engaged in play fighting.[10]
References
^ abcBoos, A.D.S.; Kammerer, C.F.; Schultz, C.L.; Paes Neto, V.D. (2015). "A tapinocephalid dinocephalian (Synapsida, Therapsida) from the Rio do Rasto Formation (Paraná Basin, Brazil): Taxonomic, ontogenetic and biostratigraphic considerations". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 63: 375–384. Bibcode:2015JSAES..63..375B. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2015.09.003.
^King, G. M. (1988). Anomodontia. Encyclopedia of paleoherpetology, part 17C. Gustav Fischer. pp. 1–174. ISBN0895742500.