Skeleton of C. romeri on display at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Synapsida
Clade:
†Caseasauria
Family:
†Caseidae
Genus:
†Cotylorhynchus Stovall, 1937
Type species
†Cotylorhynchus romeri
Stovall, 1937
Species
†C. romeri Stovall, 1937
†C. hancocki Olson & Beerbower, 1953
†C. bransoni Olson & Barghusen, 1962
Cotylorhynchus is an extinct genus of herbivorous caseid synapsids that lived during the late Lower Permian (Kungurian) and possibly the early Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The large number of specimens found make it the best-known caseid. Like all large herbivorous caseids, Cotylorhynchus had a short snout sloping forward and very large external nares. The head was very small compared to the size of the body. The latter was massive, barrel-shaped, and ended with a long tail. The limbs were short and robust. The hands and feet had short, broad fingers with powerful claws. The barrel-shaped body must have housed large intestines, suggesting that the animal had to feed on a large quantity of plants of low nutritional value. Caseids are generally considered to be terrestrial, though a semi-aquatic lifestyle has been proposed by some authors. The genus Cotylorhynchus is represented by three species, the largest of which could reach more than 6 m in length. However, a study published in 2022 suggests that the genus may be paraphyletic, with two of the three species possibly belonging to separate genera.
Cotylorhynchus. These authors consider that a detailed revision of these two taxa is necessary to clarify their status. The skull of Cotylorhynchus shows...
like Cotylorhynchus. These authors showed that the bone microstructure of the humerus, femur and ribs of adult and immature specimens of Cotylorhynchus romeri...
These remains were firstly regarded as belonging possibly to Cotylorhynchus (cf Cotylorhynchus sp. in the publication of Ronchi et al.) or to a closely related...
However, most caseids reached larger sizes, and some caseids, such as Cotylorhynchus and Alierasaurus, were among the largest terrestrial animals of the...
estimated length around 6–7 m (20–23 ft). Another huge caseasaur is Cotylorhynchus hancocki, with an estimated length and weight of at least 6 m (20 ft)...
largest, Angelosaurus greeni, reaching a size comparable to that of Cotylorhynchus romeri. Angelosaurus romeri was the smallest species and A. dolani was...
vertebrates of the Early Permian, such as the 6 metre (20 foot)-long Cotylorhynchus hancocki. Among the other large pelycosaurs were Dimetrodon grandis...
lived at the time, with an estimated length around 6–7 m (20–23 ft). Cotylorhynchus hancocki is also large, with an estimated length and weight of at least...
larger than the diadectids, more similar to the giant caseid pelycosaur Cotylorhynchus. Although the last Pareiasaurs were no larger than the first types (indeed...
1580/17) is approximately 17 cm long, a size similar to the skull of Cotylorhynchus romeri, while the few adult bones of Ennatosaurus are half the size...
the sister taxon to a derive clade containing Ennatosaurus tecton, Cotylorhynchus romeri and Angelosaurus dolani. Below the first phylogenetic analysis...
caseid Caseoides C. sanangeloensis A caseid Caseopsis C. agilis A caseid Cotylorhynchus C. hancocki A caseid Dimacrodon D. hottoni Dimetrodon D. angelensis...
described the new genus Inostrancevia. 1937 Stovall described the new genus Cotylorhynchus. 1948 L. I. Price described the new genus Prionosuchus. Niko et al....
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