Dinosaurus
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Brithopus priscus Temporal range: Middle Permian, Ufimian |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Dinocephalia |
| Genus: |
†Brithopus Kutorga, 1838 |
| Species: | †B. priscus |
| Binomial name | |
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Brithopus priscus Kutorga, 1838 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Brithopus is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsids. It contains a single species, Brithopus priscus, known from fragmentary remains found in the Copper Sandstones near Isheevo, Russia.
Brithopus was fairly large, reaching a length of 2.5–3 m (8–10 ft). The skull was similar to Titanophoneus, but more massive and heavily built.
B. priscus was first named in 1838 and was traditionally classified in the Anteosauria, a group of carnivorous dinocephalians. Brithopus served as the basis for the family Brithopodidae, which once included many anteosaurian species. Because it is based on fragmentary material, Brithopus is regarded as a nomen dubium by some researchers. Brithopus was later considered a possible estemmenosuchid, a type of herbivorous tapinocephalian therapsid.
Dinosaurus and Eurosaurus have both been considered synonyms of Brithopus.
Rhopalodon murchisoni, a junior synonym of Brithopus priscus, was described in 1845 by Johann Fischer von Waldheim, first as a species of Rhopalodon, but later assigned to its own genus, Dinosaurus, by Fischer in 1847. In 1894, Harry Govier Seeley referred a femur to the genus "Dinosaurus", though this has since been found to belong to Phreatosuchus qualeni.
The name "Dinosaurus" was later used by Ludwig Rütimeyer (1856) for a new specimen of a prosauropod dinosaur, which he named "Dinosaurus gresslyi". However, the name was not attached to any formal description and so was an invalid nomen nudum. The prosauropod was formally named Gresslyosaurus ingens, and is now considered a junior synonym of Plateosaurus.
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