Nikkasaurus is an extinct genus of therapsids first named and described by Ivakhnenko.
| Nikkasaurus Temporal range: middle Permian
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Biarmosuchia |
| Family: | †Nikkasauridae |
| Genus: | †Nikkasaurus Ivahnenko, 2000 |
| Species: | †N. tatarinovi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Nikkasaurus tatarinovi Ivahnenko, 2000
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Description
editNikkasaurus was a small therapsid, with a skull about 5 cm long. The eyes had large orbits and sclerotic rings, and the head was tilted back, as with all therapsids. The skull looks superficially similar to those of the pelycosaurs, in particular members of Varanopidae.
Biology
editNikkasaurus was probably mainly insectivorous, and possibly nocturnal.
Systematics
editThe only known species is the type species N. tatarinovi, described by MF Ivahnenko in 2000, from the Middle Permian Mezen River Basin. Nikkasaurus is possibly a relic of a more ancient stage of therapsid development.[1][2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ M. F. Ivakhnenko, 2000. The Nikkasauridae-Problematic Primitive Therapsids from the Late Permian of the Mezen Localities. Paleontol. J. 34(Suppl. 2), 179–186.
- ^ M. F. Ivakhnenko. 2008. Podklass Ophiacomorpha. In M. F. Ivakhnenko and E. N. Kurochkin (eds.), Iskopaemye pozvonotchnye Rossii i sopredel'nykh stran: Iskopaemye reptilii i ptitsy, Tchast' 1 [Fossil vertebrates of Russia and adjacent countries: Fossil reptiles and birds, Part 1], GEOS, Moscow 95-100
- Kemp, Thomas Stainforth (2005). The Origin and Evolution of Mammals. ISBN 0-19-850760-7.
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