HOME | DD

Description
New paleoart. Portraits of two tapinocephalians Styracocephalus platyrhynchus from the "middle" Permian of South Africa. I was glad to finally turn back to the protomammals theme.

Styracocephalus is known from specimens from the Western and Northern Cape Province. The holotype is a compressed skull with a partial mandible. In the following years, new specimens were found, including a well-preserved skull, which served as the basis for the re-description (Fraser-King et al. (2019)). During the re-description, the diagnosis and taxonomy were clarified and a new reconstruction was presented. So, it turned out that the previous reconstructions with the "horns" sticking out from behind and the lateral boss were the result of the deformation of the dorsoventrally compressed holotype. At the same time, new features were found, for example, a nasal bump that is not associated with supraorbital thickenings. A CT scan showed the presence of lingual heels on the incisors and post-canines, a common feature of tapinocephalians. Styracocephalus was a member of the monotypic family Styracocephalidae at the base of Tapinocephalia. Judging by the large fangs, it could be omnivore, which is the primitive condition for tapinocephalians.

Here I depicted two individuals of Styracocephalus with different head positions, which allowed me to play with the lighting. In addition to the blue pen, I decided to add a blue pencil coloring. I liked the result very much, so I will return to this style.

Blue ballpoint pens and blue colored pencil, 2021.

Description
New paleoart. Portraits of two tapinocephalians Styracocephalus platyrhynchus from the "middle" Permian of South Africa. I was glad to finally turn back to the protomammals theme.

Styracocephalus is known from specimens from the Western and Northern Cape Province. The holotype is a compressed skull with a partial mandible. In the following years, new specimens were found, including a well-preserved skull, which served as the basis for the re-description (Fraser-King et al. (2019)). During the re-description, the diagnosis and taxonomy were clarified and a new reconstruction was presented. So, it turned out that the previous reconstructions with the "horns" sticking out from behind and the lateral boss were the result of the deformation of the dorsoventrally compressed holotype. At the same time, new features were found, for example, a nasal bump that is not associated with supraorbital thickenings. A CT scan showed the presence of lingual heels on the incisors and post-canines, a common feature of tapinocephalians. Styracocephalus was a member of the monotypic family Styracocephalidae at the base of Tapinocephalia. Judging by the large fangs, it could be omnivore, which is the primitive condition for tapinocephalians.

Here I depicted two individuals of Styracocephalus with different head positions, which allowed me to play with the lighting. In addition to the blue pen, I decided to add a blue pencil coloring. I liked the result very much, so I will return to this style.

Blue ballpoint pens and blue colored pencil, 2021.