Pelorocephalus

Pelorocephalus (meaning "monstrous head" in Greek) is an extinct genus of chigutisaurid temnospondyls.^[1] It is known from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Cacheutá Formation of the Cuyo Basin and the Ischigualasto Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, both in northwestern Argentina. Four species are currently recognized: the type species P. mendozensis, which was named in 1944, P. tenax, which was named in 1949 as a species of Chigutisaurus and reassigned to Pelorocephalus in 1999, and P. cacheutensis, which was named in 1953 as another species of Chigutisaurus and reassigned to Pelorocephalus along with P. tenax. A fourth species, P. ischigualastensis, was named in 1975 after the formation it was found in. The species P. tunuyanensis was named in 1948 but has since been synonymized with P. mendozensis.^[2]

Pelorocephalus Temporal range: Carnian
Skull of Pelorocephalus mendozensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Tetrapoda
Order:	†Temnospondyli
Suborder:	†Stereospondyli
Family:	†Chigutisauridae
Genus:	†Pelorocephalus Cabrera 1944
Type species
Pelorocephalus mendozensis Cabrera 1944
Species
†P. cacheutensis (Rusconi 1953) (originally Chigutisaurus cacheutensis) †P. ischigualastensis Bonaparte 1975 †P. mendozensis Cabrera 1944 (type) †P. tenax (Rusconi 1949) (originally Chigutisaurus tenax)

Life restoration of Pelorocephalus tenax

Life restoration of Pelorocephalus mendozensis

Phylogeny

Pelorocephalus in a cladogram of Brachyopoidea adapted from Ruta et al. (2007):^[3]

Brachyopoidea	Brachyopidae Sinobrachyops Xenobrachyops Banksiops Batrachosaurus Vanastega Vigilius Batrachosuchus Chigutisauridae Chigutisaurus Compsocerops Kuttycephalus Pelorocephalus Siderops