Hipposaurus boonstrai

Hipposaurus is a small primitive biarmosuchian therapsid from the Middle Permian of South Africa which was originally thought to be a gorgonopsid.

Name

Hipposaurus boonstrai

Authority

Haughton, 1929

Meaning of generic name

Horse lizard

[Looks more like a hippopotamus in miniature - hippopotamus means "river horse", and they probably shortened a possible **"hippopotamosaurus" to "hipposaurus" precisely as "ludodactylus" is short for **"ludopterydactylus".]

Size

Skull length: 21 cm, Length: 1.2 m

Remains

Holotype (SAM 8950): Complete skeleton.

Referred materials: SAM 9081 (distorted skull and postcranial elements, type of H. major); CGP/1/66 (Skull).

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Tapinocephalus zone, Abrahamskraal Fm, Beaufort Group, Middle Permian (Capitanian).

Type locality: Klein-Koedoeskops in the Beaufort West district, South Africa.

Classification

Synapsida Therapsida Biarmosuchia Hipposauridae

Further Reading

Haughton, S. H., 1929, On some new therapsid genera: Annals of the South African Museum, v. 28, n. 1, p. 55-78. Boonstra, L. D., 1952, Die Gorgonospier-geslag Hipposaurus en die familie Ictidorhinidae: Tydskr. Wet. Kuns., v. 12, p. 142-149.

Synonyms

Hipposaurus major Boonstra, 1952