Ennatosaurus

Ennatosaurus Temporal range: Middle Permian
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Synapsida
Order:	Pelycosauria
Suborder:	Caseasauria
Family:	Caseidae
Genus:	Ennatosaurus
Species:	E. tecton
Binomial name
Ennatosaurus tecton Efemov, 1956

Ennatosaurus (meaning "the 9th reptile") was a synapsid that lived in European Russia during the Wordian stage of the Permian period. It is included in the synapsid clade Caseidae in the order Pelycosauria.

Ennatosaurus was herbivorous, possibly using its broad forefeet to dig at plants. Like all caseids, Ennatosaurus had a small head compared to its wide, lizard-like body. Its mouth was lined with blunt, peg-like teeth. It lived alongside other Permian creatures, such as the herbivorous Nyctiphruretus and the carnivorous Biarmosuchus.

The adult size for Ennatosaurus is unknown. Fossil remains show an animal about the size of a cat, but these are likely juvenile specimens, the adults growing to sizes that may have rivaled those of 20-foot (6.1 m)-long cousin, Cotylorhynchus.[1] Ennatosaurus is known from only one fossil site, where several juveniles were buried simultaneously in sand. One adult skull was found among the juvenile skeletons.

See also

• List of synapsids

References

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2007/07/the_answers_we_seek_on_goodbye.php

http://www.palaeos.com/Paleozoic/Permian/Wordian.htm

Lucas, Spencer G. (1998) Permian Tetrapod Biochronology, Permophiles: Newsletter of the Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy 32: 17–33