Dinosaurs are often celebrated as the most gigantic and formidable predators in the annals of natural history. However, 40 million years before their reign, Pampaphoneus biccai was the undisputed apex predator of South America, reigning as the biggest and most bloodthirsty meat eater of its era.
, an international team of researchers revealed the astounding discovery of a 265-million-year-old, exquisitely preserved fossilThe stunning fossil includes a complete skull and some skeletal bones, such as ribs and arm bones., which belongs to the early therapsid clade called dinocephalians, lived just before the largest extinction event in the history of Earth that eliminated 86% of all animal species worldwide.
“The fossil was found in middle Permian rocks, in an area where bones are not so common, but always hold pleasant surprises,” said lead author Mateus A. Costa Santos, a graduate student in the Paleontology Laboratory at the Federal University of Pampa . “Finding a newskull after so long was extremely important for increasing our knowledge about the animal, which was previously difficult to differentiate from its Russian relatives.
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