Estemmenosuchus
 

Estemmenosuchus was a genus of Therapsids (mammal-like reptiles) that lived during the middle to late Permian. It walked on four legs and was an herbivore. Fossils of Estemmenosuchus have been found in Russia. Estemmenosuchus had long sharp teeth in the front of the mouth. These teeth pointed forward. There were smaller cheek teeth at the sides. Thus Estemmenosuchus was able to eat a variety of plants such as cycads, horsetails, and conifers.
Estemennosuchus was about 13 feet (4m.) long and was over 6.5 feet (2m.) tall. It had sprawling front legs and column-like rear legs. There were bony knobs on the skull. Two were close to the nostrils and two were in the middle of the snout. Estemmenosuchus also had two of these horn-like projections over the eyes.
The name Estemmenosuchus literally means "crowned reptile". It was named by P.K. Chudinov in 1913. This description of the characteristics of Estemmenosuchus is given in Palaeos Vertebrates:

"Bull sized, massive skull; rather spectacular "horns", anterior nasal formed unpaired boss on dorsal snout; jugal & squamosal form massive lateral undergrowth."

The teeth are described in Palaeos Vertebrates in this way: "Long curved incisors; canines short and thick; at least 20 weak marginal teeth."

Estemmenosuchus was a member of the family Estemmenosuchidae. The taxonomy of Estemmenosuchus is:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Subclass: Synapsida
Order: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Family Estemmenosuchidae
Genus: Estemmenosuchus
The species include Estemmenosuchus uralensis and Estemmenosuchus mirabilis. A comparison of those two species is given in this excerpt of Palaeos Vertebrates:

"Estemmenosuchus uralensis is larger, with a larger skull in proportion to width. The postorbitals & postorbitals form a pair of partially fused horn-like protuberances on the skull table just posterior to the orbits. E. mirabilis is smaller, with a shorter skull. The horn pair is shorter, well-separated and the horns extend more laterally."

Neal Robbins