Құдайгөй (Moschops) – Пермь кезеңінің жойылған жануарлары

Extinct genus of therapsids that lived in the Guadalupian epoch
the 1983 children's television series

Moschops (Greek for "calf face") is an extinct genus of therapsids that lived in the Guadalupian epoch, around 265–260 million years ago. They were heavily built plant eaters, and they may have lived partly in water, as hippopotamuses do. They had short, thick heads and might have competed by head butting each other. Their elbow joints allowed them to walk with a more mammal like gait rather than crawling. Their remains were found in the Karoo region of South Africa, belonging to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone. Therapsids, such as Moschops, are synapsids, the dominant land animals in the Permian period, which ended 252 million years ago.

Moschops were heavy set dinocephalian synapsids, measuring in length, The occiput was broad and deep, but the skull was more narrow in the dorsal border. Furthermore, the pterygoid arches and the angular region of the jaw with heavily built jaw muscles. Due to that and the possession of long crowned, stout teeth, it is believed that Moschops was a herbivore feeding on nutrient poor and tough vegetation, like cycad stems. Due to the presumably nutrient poor food, it is likely they had to feed for long periods of time. The anatomy of the taxa allowed them to open the elbow joints more widely, enabling them to move in a more mammal like posture than some other animals at the time. This helped to carry their massive bodies more easily while feeding, as well as allowing them short bursts of speed. It has also been proposed that Moschops were possibly sub aquatic. A 2017 published study would later confirm this by synchrotron scanning a Moschops capensis skull, which revealed numerous anatomical adaptations to the central nervous system for combative behaviour. They were likely preyed upon by titanosuchids and larger therocephalian species.