Clash of the Titans

A speculative reconstruction of the two top predators of the Tapinocephalus AZ, Anteosaurus magnificus and Simorhinella baini.

I feel honored to upload this piece onto DA, and you know why? It's because this is the world's very first reconstruction of Simorhinella, and I am the one who gets to make it and upload it. It's been 103 years since Simorhinella was first discovered, yet nobody ever took the time to reconstruct it until now. The reason why, I'm not sure, but nonetheless, I am honored to be the first. My heart goes out to for introducing me to this obscure animal. I also saw this as an opportunity to make a more conservative Anteosaurus. Hope you all enjoy!

The Tapinocephalus AZ was a temperate, humid region that was dotted with many lakes. It had a varied paleoclimate, with warm springs and summers and cold winters. The area was at a high elevation back then, so it would often snow during the winter. However, grass and angiosperm plants would have been absent during this geological time period. Over 30% of the Tapinocephalus AZ was covered in lakes, and it would have looked rather similar to the lake-dotted areas of modern-day Scandinavia.

Simorhinella was a lychosuchid therocephalian that lived in the Upper Capitanian of the Middle Permian, and is known from very little postcrania, a relatively complete skull, and a maxilla. However, it was also the largest of its kind. It's skull was 51.5 cm long, and based on the bodily proportions of other lychosuchids relative to size, the entire animal would have been roughly the size of a tiger. It's snout was also shorter and deeper than that of other lycosuchids, indicating that it specialized in hunting larger, stronger prey. Like other therocephalians, all four of Simorhinella's limbs would be oriented in a fully erect mammalian stance, which allowed them to move much faster than other large-bodied predators from its time. Not only that, but the presence of nasal turbinates and secondary palates in even the most basal therocephalians indicate that they, and by extension Simorhinella, were warm-blooded. The mammalian gait and fast metabolisms of lycosuchids like Simorhinella might have allowed them to adapt to a paleo-canid niche, hunting by pursuit rather than ambush. I decided to reconstruct Simorhinella as a speculative social pack hunter, living with other members of its species and cooperating with them in taking down prey. They wouldn't be nearly as intelligent as the pack-based predators of today, but they would presumably be intelligent enough to strategically take down prey as a group. I depicted their coats as being convergently similar in coloration to Siberian grey wolves.

Simorhinella shared their land with the larger and more powerful apex predator, Anteosaurus. Anteosaurus was a huge predatory anteosaurine dinocephalian, and the largest terrestrial carnivore on Earth at the time. It dwarved every other mammalian terrestrial carnivore that succeeded it, including the famed cenozoic artiodactyl predator Andrewsarchus. Like Simorhinella, Anteosaurus might have been a warm-blooded animal, but it had a much slower metabolism than any living mammal. It was biologically a much more primitive therapsid than Simorhinella, with sprawled front legs and semi-erect hind limbs, making it's overall posture and walking gait more similar to a terrestrial crocodilian. It's more primitive anatomy would have limited it's running speed, so to compensate for its slow gait it would have been an ambush predator, using drab and mottled coloration to blend into the environment. Despite its inability to move too quickly, its primitive reptile-like body type would have been very versatile, allowing it to traverse the varied terrain of its homeland. It was a mostly terrestrial animal with powerful limbs and broad feet that allowed it to walk on land for long distances, but it's long body and and powerful tail would have also allowed it to swim across the Tapinocephalus AZ's numerous lakes.

Simorhinella wouldn't risk trying to steal a kill from an adult Anteosaurus. This less out of respect and more out of fear of being bitten in half for the crime of attempted theft. Both Anteosaurus and Simorhinella were very large animals, but Anteosaurus was the largest out of the two, and by extension, the strongest. However, subadult Anteosaurus are a different story. An Anteosaurus subadault is only just a little larger than, if not the same size as a fully grown Simorhinella, and since the Simorhinella travel in packs, it puts the odds into their own favor. Because of this, young Anteosaurus often get into fights with Simorhinella over potential prey. This young Anteosaurus bull is fighting against an angry pack over very unconventional game: a Jonkeria shoat. The shoat is currently unharmed, but also frightened for its dear life.