The genus Stenocybus (Cheng and Li 1997) is known from a complete skull and a few bits and pieces of the skull of a second individual. Originally considered a basal dinocephalian (therapsid), a later report by Kammerer (2010) considered it a juvenile Sinophoneus, an anteosaur. Over the next few days we’ll be examining Stenocybus from several angles. It is a difficult fossil to deal with (working from photos alone) and I made a few mistakes on my earlier attempt (nothing earth-shattering) that I will attempt to rectify. I’ve had experience working on that troublesome and largely disarticulated palate lately, so there will be new things to talk about. Suggestions and corrections will be welcome!
Figure 1. The traditional and original reconstruction of Stenocybus.
As always, I encourage readers to see specimens, make observations and come to your own conclusions. Test. Test. And test again.
Evidence and support in the form of nexus, pdf and jpeg files will be sent to all who request additional data.
References
Cheng Z and Li J 1997. A new genus of primitive dinocephalian – the third report on Late Permian Dashankou lower tetrapod fauna. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 35 (1): 35-43. [in Chinese with English summary]
Kammerer CF 2011. Systematics of the Anteosauria (Therapsida: Dinocephalia), Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 9: 2, 261 — 304, First published on: 13 December 2010 (iFirst)
