Mycterosaurus longiceps Fossil Jaws Teeth Prehistoric Reptile Pelycosaur Permian Paleozoic Collection (2)

Rare Fossil Jaw with Teeth Micterosaur Prehistoric Primitive Reptile Pelicosaur Mycterosaurus longiceps mm 7 x 5 x 2 Permian Paleozoic Collecting Paleontology Museum.

Difficult to find, good quality fossil find with appreciable, very well preserved details of the teeth and maxillary portion. Not restored at all. Only a piece, as in photos.

Mycterosaurus (Williston, 1915) was a genus of extinct tetrapod of synapsid reptiles belonging to the family of varanopids (Synapsida, Pelycosauria, Eupelycosauria, Varanopidae, Mycterosaurinae). He lived in the Lower Permian (about 280 - 275 million years ago) and his fossil remains were found in North America.
It was first described in 1915 by Samuel Williston, based on partial fossils found in Texas, in the Waggoner Ranch Formation. The scholar described the fossils as Mycterosaurus longiceps. Later, in lands of comparable age, another fossil skeleton was discovered in Texas, to which Robert Broom gave the name of Eumatthevia bolli in 1930. Later, in 1958, Vaughn described a skull from the area of ​​Richard Spur in Oklahoma, to which he gave the name of Basicranodon fortsillensis. Subsequently (Reisz et al., 1997) these last two specimens were recognized as fossils belonging to Mycterosaurus longiceps. Another species of Mycterosaurus (M. smithae) was described in 1965 on the basis of a partial skeleton coming from the Cutler Formation in Colorado.
Compared to most of his close relatives, such as Varanops and Varanosaurus, this animal was much smaller in size and possessed a much more frail body. Its length should not exceed 60 centimeters. The legs were rather short and protruded at the sides of the body. The skull was relatively small, low, and frail.
Mycterosaurus is the most primitive member of his family, and was lacking some typical characteristics of the skull and the skeleton that are found in other similar but more evolved animals. It appears that its closest relative was Mesenosaurus of Russia (Berman et al., 2013).