Moschops

Moschops capensis · Moschops was a heavily built, plant-eating therapsid that lived in what is now South Africa around 264.4–260 million years ago, in the Middle Permian.

It lived about 264.4 to 260 million years ago.

Moschops
Photo: Creator:Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY 3.0
Moschops
Photo: Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com), CC BY 2.5
Moschops
Photo: Middle East birds study, CC0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassSynapsida
OrderTherapsida
FamilyTapinocephalidae
GenusMoschops
SpeciesMoschops capensis

Where its fossils were found

The Karoo region of South Africa.

Fun facts

  • Moschops had a short, thick, dome-like head and is widely thought to have head-butted rivals of its own species.
  • Its head-butting bone bumps look less like antlers or horns and more like the thickened bone patches seen in bottlenose whales.
  • Its brain was cushioned by a thick layer of protective tissue, probably to reduce damage from head-butting.
  • Moschops had a light-sensitive "third eye" opening on top of its skull, which helped regulate body rhythms and temperature.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).