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Description

A selection of kannemeyeriform dicynodonts known as stahleckeriids, to scale.

[Although the original image www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/ar… did not have any glaring mistakes, I felt it could do with an update. Some of the proportions and sizes weren't accurate, and a revision allowed me to alter the line up. The text was also updated.]

Dicynodonts were an incredibly successful group of herbivorous synapsids across the Permian and Triassic, notable for a distinctive beak and upper pair of tusks. They ranged in size between tiny mole-like burrowers (www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/ar… ), generalist pig-like forms (www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/ar… ) and up to giants. Of the four groups which survived the end Permian extinction event, the kannemeyeriforms were the only clade to diversify and survive up until the end of the Triassic.

While kannemeyeriforms were all generally large and barrel-bodied, it was amongst the stahleckeriids where the largest known dicynodonts are known. Additionally, compared to other species, stahleckeriids generally (but not always) lacked the pair of tusks. Amongst the better known species was the late surviving Placerias and gigantic Lisowicia. Multiple specimens of the former species have been found together in floodplain environment suggesting they may have congregated in herds. Lisowicia was an elephant-sized species with a particularly erect limb posture, compared to most dicynodonts. More closely related to the stahlecheriids than other kannemeyeriforms was the smaller Angonisaurus, which can be differentiated by anatomical features of the skull.

Description

A selection of kannemeyeriform dicynodonts known as stahleckeriids, to scale.

[Although the original image www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/ar… did not have any glaring mistakes, I felt it could do with an update. Some of the proportions and sizes weren't accurate, and a revision allowed me to alter the line up. The text was also updated.]

Dicynodonts were an incredibly successful group of herbivorous synapsids across the Permian and Triassic, notable for a distinctive beak and upper pair of tusks. They ranged in size between tiny mole-like burrowers (www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/ar… ), generalist pig-like forms (www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/ar… ) and up to giants. Of the four groups which survived the end Permian extinction event, the kannemeyeriforms were the only clade to diversify and survive up until the end of the Triassic.

While kannemeyeriforms were all generally large and barrel-bodied, it was amongst the stahleckeriids where the largest known dicynodonts are known. Additionally, compared to other species, stahleckeriids generally (but not always) lacked the pair of tusks. Amongst the better known species was the late surviving Placerias and gigantic Lisowicia. Multiple specimens of the former species have been found together in floodplain environment suggesting they may have congregated in herds. Lisowicia was an elephant-sized species with a particularly erect limb posture, compared to most dicynodonts. More closely related to the stahlecheriids than other kannemeyeriforms was the smaller Angonisaurus, which can be differentiated by anatomical features of the skull.