Biarmosuchus
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Biarmosuchus Temporal range: Wordian, 267 Ma |
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| Mounted skeleton of B. tener | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Synapsida |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Biarmosuchia |
| Family: | †Biarmosuchidae |
| Genus: |
†Biarmosuchus Tchudinov, 1960 |
| Type species | |
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†Biarmosuchus tener Tchudinov, 1960 |
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| Species | |
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B. tener Tchudinov, 1960 |
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| Synonyms | |
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B. tener Tchudinov, 1960
B. tchudinovii Ivakhnenko, 1999
Biarmosuchus is an extinct genus of biarmosuchian therapsid that lived around 267 mya during the Middle Permian period.Biarmosuchus was discovered in the Perm region of Russia. The first specimen was found in channel sandstone that was deposited by flood waters originating from the young Ural mountains.
Biarmosuchus was a medium-sized predator, similar in size to a large dog, grew up to 1.5–2 m in length with a skull length 15 cm (immature) to 21 cm.It was a lightly built, probably agile animal that would have fed on smaller tetrapods. Their legs are quite long, and the animals were probably quite agile in spite of their size. A large opening for the eye and a small temple opening common in primitive mammal-like reptiles, this lends to a weak bite but how it ate is pure speculation. The teeth contained eight small incisors on the palate, followed by a canine tooth and a further five canine teeth. So together the species contained fourteen upper teeth and twelve lower teeth of small size (Kemp 1982).
Biarmosuchus tener was described by Chudinov in 1960 from the Ezhovo locality, Udmurtia, Russia. It was named for Bjarmaland, the name for the White Sea region in Old Norse literature. Biarmosuchus tener, known from two assorted skulls and post-cranial remains, including several complete skeletons. In 1999, Biarmosuchus tchudinovi, a new species, was described by Ivakhnenko from the Sokol locality, Udmurtia, Russia.
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