#geikia

[veloci-raptor]

Flocking Together #2

Rhomaleosaurus

Cathartornis

Geikia

Jonkeria

[alphynix]

Geikia elginensis, a dicynodont synapsid from the Late Permian of Scotland (~254-252 mya). Known only from a single skull discovered in the 1890s, it would have measured around 50cm long and was closely related to South African forms like Bulbasaurus.

It had an unusually shortened snout and forward-facing eyes -- sort of like a pug with a beak -- and a pair of protruding nasal bosses on its snout. It was probably a selective browser, biting off small pieces of vegetation at a time, and its large eyes and stereoscopic vision suggest it may have been nocturnal.