Anteosaurus
Anteosaurus (meaning "Antaeus reptile") is an extinct genus of large carnivorous dinocephalian synapsid. It lived at the end of the Guadalupian (= Middle Permian) during the Capitanian stage, about 265 to 260 million years ago in what is now South Africa. It is mainly known by cranial remains and few postcranial bones. With its skull reaching in length and a body size estimated at more than in length, and in weight, Anteosaurus was the largest known carnivorous non-mammalian synapsid and the largest terrestrial predator of the Permian period. Occupying the top of the food chain in the Middle Permian, its skull, jaws and teeth show adaptations to capture large prey like the giants titanosuchids and tapinocephalids dinocephalians and large pareiasaurs. As in many other dinocephalians the cranial bones of Anteosaurus are pachyostosed, but to a lesser extent than in tapinocephalid dinocephalians. In Anteosaurus, pachyostosis mainly occurs in the form of horn-shaped supraorbital protuberances. According to some paleontologists this structure would be implicated in intraspecific agonistic behaviour, including head-pushing probably during the mating season. On the contrary, other scientists believe that this pachyostosis served to reduce cranial stress on the bones of the skull when biting massive prey. Young Anteosaurus started