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Voltaire Neto
The mammal-like creature known as Pampophoneus biccai takes on a plant-eating Paleozoic creature called a pareiasaur in this artist's conception.
Paleontologists have found the skull of a weird but deadly mammal-like monster that terrorized Brazil long before dinosaurs ruled the earth.
The specimen is from the Permian period, more than 260 million years ago. The complete skull measures about 13 inches (35 centimeters) in length and was discovered in 2008 during a scientific excavation on a farm in the pampas region of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. The skull came from a creature that was part of a class of long-extinct vertebrates called dinocephalian therapsids, which predated the dinosaurs and were distantly related to mammals.
In an interview with Discovery News, lead researcher Juan Carlos Cisneros of Brazil's Federal University of Piaui said the critter was a cross between "a tiger and a Komodo dragon, if you can imagine that." A report about the fossil was published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The creature has been dubbed Pampaphoneus biccai: The Latin-derived genus name roughly translates as "pampas killer," and the species name pays tribute to Jose Bicca, the landlord of the farm where the skull was found. The fossil site was identified through an analysis of satellite imagery from Google Earth.
Juan Carlos Cisneros
A photo and a drawing show the skull discovered on a Brazilian farm.
Cisneros told me in an emailed statement that the find is important for two reasons: First, Pampaphoneus is the first Paleozoic terrestrial carnivore discovered in South America. Combining this find with earlier discoveries of plant-eaters from the same time frame will help paleontologists "picture a more complete ecosystem during the Permian period," the statement said.
Second, the skull suggests that this South American species was a close relative to similar dinocephalians previously found in Russia and South Africa. That supports the idea that therapsids were able to disperse easily from one part of the Pangaea supercontinent to the other, during an age when most of Earth's modern-day land masses were linked together.
The therapsids were dealt a heavy blow 250 million years ago in an extinction event known as the "Great Dying." During the Triassic period that followed, they gave way to the dinosaurs — but their distant relatives in the mammalian tribe once again rule the earth.
Update for 7:51 p.m. ET: Brian Switek adds to the Permian picture in his Wired Science posting on the "Terrible Heads."
More about the days before the dinosaurs:
- What big teeth that plant-eater had!
- Mammals' family tree predates the dinosaurs
- Cat-sized reptiles roamed ancient Antarctica
- Flash interactive: Earth's timeline
In addition to Cisneros, the authors of "Carnivorous Dinocephalian from the Middle Permian of Brazil and Tetrapod Dispersal in Pangaea" include Fernando Abdala, Saniye Atayman-Güven, Bruce Rubidge, A.M. Selâl Sengör and Cesar Schultz.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Looks pretty similar to the gorgonopsids, another type of therapsid from the Permian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonopsia
The authors place it in the therapsid suborder Dinocephalia, family Anteosauridae. Gorgonopsids are a different suborder, but I have no idea what distinguishes them. A cool beast nonetheless!
I'm surprised there isn't a depiction of Fred Flintstone in the artist's conception. He lived about then, right?
Well, accounts differ, but Fred is known to have had a pet dinosaur named Dino. So by Fred's lifetime, dinosaurs had clearly been domesticated, as well as saber-toothed cats, which were also commonly kept in the homes of Bedrock. The days of this particularly savage Brazillian predator were likely long over.
You're right. I hadn't factored in the brontosaur Fred drove at work in the quarry, either. Maybe this critter was the guard dog at the quarry, to keep those pesky saber toothed cats out.
(I did use the correct spelling of S-A-B-R-E, it is a french word, but spell check discorrected it)
I like the energy plan in Fred's day. Powering cars off Neanderthal's feet kept us off of Saudi Arabian oil, which come to think of it hadn't developed yet since they lived amongst the dinos.
This creature still lives. I divorced her 3 years ago.
Nasty looking teeth. A cross between a Komodo dragon and a tiger. Scary animal indeed. I wonder how fast they could run?
I was wondering that, too. Were they fast or relatively slow creatures?
They had rather short legs and a sprawling gate, somewhat like a Komodo dragon. (The gallop depicted in the picture is probably in error.) I would guess they would have a similar speed to a Komodo dragon. They only needed to be faster than their primary prey which similarly had short legs and a sprawling gate. Unlike a Komodo dragon, they were not venomous. The skull is remarkably well preserved.
Well, of course they would be "fast" compared to their prey, unless they are ambush hunters and lie in wait. If so, they don't need to be too fast at all.
How do we know they were not venomous?
I should have written that it is highly unlikely that they were venomous. The reasons include: 1. A solidly constructed skull
designedevolved for a powerful killing bite. 2. No evidence of grooved teeth or other tooth structures to conduct venom into the bite wound. 3. The prey size was not disproportionally large or dangerous compared to these therapsids.(Venom has evolved in a few mammals such as the shrews. The short tailed shrew has enough venom to kill over 100 mice. It feeds on mice which are larger than itself. Similarly the Komodo dragon feeds on small deer, pigs, and even water buffalo. All these animals are as big or bigger than the lizard.)
I haven't looked into the shrew, but the Komodo dragon's venom is in the saliva, not delivered by fang but just from the general bite.
I wouldn't expect venom in this creature, but you never know.
Isn't the main danger from Komodo dragons the bacteria in their saliva, or do they have venom?
They found venom in them a few years ago, actually in all monitor lizards.
Venom apparently evolved early in lizards. Research by Bryan Fry's team at the University of Melbourne, Australia, found that venomous lizards are much more widespread than anyone realized. Venomous lizards and snakes are in fact descended from a common ancestor that lived about 200 million years ago. (http://www.venomdoc.com/venomdoc/Reptiles.html)
The difficulty in determining venomous versus non-venomous is that venom glands are modified salivary glands. The effects of venom are quick, whereas even the nastiest bacteria take 12 to 24 hours. The Komodo dragons have both a powerful venom and nasty bacteria. Venomous snakes (at least rattlesnakes) have control over the amount of venom injected in a bite. Defensive bites can be "dry" (no appreciable venom) to almost the full amount in the venom glands. Feeding bites typically have an amount suitable for the prey size. (Many, many years ago when I worked at the Columbus Zoo, a friend of mine got "hooked" with a single fang in his thumb by a western diamondback rattlesnake in a feeding strike. He lost part of his thumb as a result and spent considerable time in the hospital.) I do not know if rear fanged snakes or venomous lizards can similarly control the amount of venom in their bite.
I do know that a monitor lizard, that I had for many years, always "killed" his plastic food bowl before taking the dead mice out of it. It was quite a show to have him in the yard and show him his bowl. He would run full tilt to it and grab it biting has hard as possible. After a few seconds he would set it down and casually eat the contents. Sadly, "Rusty" died of a respiratory infection in 2002.
What is dinosaur bones are aliens?
Not in Genesis, must be one of Satan's illusions...
Begone, false skulls!
A lot of fearsome critters have roamed the planet over the eons. Would be fun to somehow travel back in time and just observe the their daily activities in different eras.
Mom!!!! Can I bring him in the house?
dates may not be correct, or not in an order... but ONE THING IS QUITE OBVIOUS, LIFE WAS NOT PUT ON THIS PLANET BY THOSE "GOD(s)" as described in bibles & quorans & , ... etc.. isn't it time to put "STOP" on all religious clown activites and dismentall all religions, including their churches & mosques & temples... etc.. on this planet and START BUILDING A TOTALLY NEW WORLD GENERATION, FREE OF RELIGIOUS VIRUSES...???
Yeah!! Everyone should know by now that life was put here by the alien overlords!
Aliens brought life here, because it certainly couldn't happen by chance. And they either set all creatures by their own kind as they are now and hid fossils to fool us about 6000 years ago, or they seeded single cell life about 4.5 million years ago and evolved them to what we have today. Not sure which...