Eosimops
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Eosimops Temporal range: Middle Permian |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Infraorder: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Pylaecephalidae |
| Genus: |
†Eosimops Broom, 1921 |
| Species | |
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Eosimops is an extinct genus of pylaecephalid dicynodont. They were small synapsids superficially resembling modern mammals. Eosimops is known from several skull specimens, as well as one complete skeleton. Eosimops lived during the Middle Permian of South Africa.
Eosimops was named in by South African paleontologist Robert Broom. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek Ēṓs (“dawn”) and ópsis (“appearance”).
Eosimops was discovered in 1921 by Robert Broom, based on a single skull. It was found in the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone strata of South Africa, an area which provides a rich variety of early therapsids and covers a period of almost 100 million years ranging from the Permian to the Jurassic. Later, other skull specimens as well as a complete skeleton were found. Eosimops is found above the stratigraphic range of the early dicynodont Eodycynodon. Also found in the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone, Eosimops occurs in association with animals like Eunotosaurus and scylacosaurid therocephalans.
Eosimops was a small, mammal-like organism. It was around 34cm in length (13.4 in.), roughly the size of a prairie dog. It had a long cylindrical body, with sprawling, clawed limbs which it probably used for digging. Eosimops had two long tusks on its upper jaw, and a cutting keratinized beak for processing vegetation. It likely fed on leaves, stems, roots, and fleshy parts of plants. It has been suggested that some dicynodonts had hair, so Eosimops may have sported small hairs for insulation and tactile sensation. Its short and stocky proportions could have also aided in heat retention.
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