Diplocaulus
magnicornis
Diplocaulus magnicornis Cope, 1882 skull from the Lower Permian of Baylor
County, northern Texas, USA (“UC 637”, ex-University of Chicago,
now housed at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA).
This fossil amphibian is remarkable for its long, bony, posterolateral
extensions of the skull. Diplocaulus has been interpreted as an
entirely aquatic amphibian. The oddly-shaped skull was apparently used,
when tilted, to help the creature surface rapidly while swimming. The
skull shape also acts to prevent predators from consuming Diplocaulus
whole.
In the 1960s, a remarkable concentration of hundreds
of Diplocaulus remains was collected from a single locality in the
Permian Vale Formation of Texas, USA, representing a drought-concentration of
animals in a dried-out river channel (see Dalquest & Mamay, 1963 - Journal
of Geology 71: 641-644).
Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Amphibia,
Lepospondyli, Nectridea, Keraterpetontidae