Megawhaitsia

{{Automatic taxobox

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Megawhaitsia

| taxon = Megawhaitsia

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Wuchiapingian|Wuchiapingian|[[Wuchiapingian]]}}

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Changhsingian|Changhsingian|[[Changhsingian]]}}

| image = Megawhaitsia maxilla.jpg

| image = Megawhaitsia maxilla.jpg

| image_caption = Illustration of the [[holotype]] [[maxilla]] showing possible [[venom]] ducts

| image_caption = Illustration of the [[holotype]] [[maxilla]] showing possible [[venom]] ducts

}}

}}

'''''Megawhaitsia''''' is an [[extinct]] [[genus]] of large [[therocephalian]] [[therapsid]]s who lived during the [[Late Permian]] ([[Wuchiapingian]]) in what is now [[Eastern Europe]]. The only known [[species]] is '''''M. patrichae''''', described in 2008 from several [[fossil]]s discovered in various [[oblast]]s of [[European Russia]]. The fossils are representative of a large animal whose [[skull]] size is estimated to be {{cvt|40-50|cm|in}} long.

'''''Megawhaitsia''''' is an [[extinct]] [[genus]] of large [[therocephalian]] [[therapsid]]s who lived during the [[Late Permian]] ([[Changhsingian]] in what is now [[Eastern Europe]]. The only known [[species]] is '''''M. patrichae''''', described in 2008 from several [[fossil]]s discovered in various [[oblast]]s of [[European Russia]]. The fossils are representative of a large animal whose [[skull]] size is estimated to be {{cvt|40-50|cm|in}} long.

The most notable feature of ''Megawhaitsia'' is that it has a [[maxilla]] with canals directly connected to the [[Root canal|tooth root]] of the canines. Based on the characteristics present in the related genus ''[[Euchambersia]]'', Russian paleontologist [[Mikhaïl Ivakhnenko|Mikhail Ivakhnenko]] raises the possibility that the animal may have had a [[venom]] gland. If it is true, then it would then be one of the oldest [[tetrapod]]s known to have this attribute. Subsequent studies have challenged this proposition.

The most notable feature of ''Megawhaitsia'' is that it has a [[maxilla]] with canals directly connected to the [[Root canal|tooth root]] of the canines. Based on the characteristics present in the related genus ''[[Euchambersia]]'', Russian paleontologist [[Mikhaïl Ivakhnenko|Mikhail Ivakhnenko]] raises the possibility that the animal may have had a [[venom]] gland. If it is true, then it would then be one of the oldest [[tetrapod]]s known to have this attribute. Subsequent studies have challenged this proposition.

== Discovery and naming ==

== Discovery and naming ==

The [[holotype]] specimen of ''Megawhaitsia'' was discovered in the mid-1950s during excavations carried out in the locality of Vyazniki-2, located in [[Vladimir Oblast]], in [[European Russia]], before being cataloged as [[Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences|PIN]] 1100/101. This site is dated to the [[Wuchiapingian]] stage of the [[Late Permian]]. It had originally been incorrectly recorded as the [[jawbone]] of a [[gorgonopsian]] similar to ''[[Inostrancevia]]''. Given the low presence of gorgonopsians during the Late Permian in Russia, the fossil was reassigned to a large [[therocephalian]] in a work published in 1997, without however receiving a [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial name]].{{cite book|language=ru, en|author1=M. F. Ivakhnenko|author2=V. K. Golubev|author3=Yu. M. Gubin|author4=N. N. Kalandadze|author5=I. V. Novikov|author6=A. G. Sennikov|author7=A. S. Rautian|title=Пермские и триасовые тетраподы Восточной Европы|trans-title=Permian and Triassic tetrapods of Eastern Europe|location=[[Moscou]]|publisher=GEOS|year=1997|page=33|isbn=5-89118-029-4|url=https://www.geokniga.org/books/2472}} In 2001, [[Mikhaïl Ivakhnenko|Mikhail Feodosievich Ivakhnenko]] attributed two additional fossil remains to the still unnamed [[taxon]]. The first is a partial [[Maxilla|maxillary bone]], cataloged PIN 1538/39, discovered in the locality of Purly, in the [[Nizhny Novgorod Oblast]]. The second is the right part of an incomplete mandible, cataloged PIN 4417/101, discovered in the locality of Shabarshata, in the [[Kirov Oblast]].{{cite book|language=ru|author=Mikhail F. Ivakhnenko|title=Тетраподы Восточно-Европейского плакката - позднепалеозойского территориально-природного комплекса|trans-title=Tetrapods of the East European Plakkat - Late Paleozoic Territorial-Natural Complex|publisher=Alexander Doweld|location=[[Perm, Russia|Perm]]|volume=283|pages=127–128|year=2001|isbn=5-88345-064-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N524Vah8MRAC}}

The [[holotype]] specimen of ''Megawhaitsia'' was discovered in the mid-1950s during excavations carried out in the locality of Vyazniki-2, located in [[Vladimir Oblast]], in [[European Russia]], before being cataloged as [[Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences|PIN]] 1100/101. This site is dated to the [[Changhsingian]]stage of the [[Late Permian]].>{{Cite web |last=Sennikov |first=Andrey |date=2005 |title=Unique Vyazniki biotic complex of the terminal Permian from Central Russia, and the global ecological crisis at the Permo-Triassic boundary |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260474044_Unique_Vyazniki_biotic_complex_of_the_terminal_Permian_from_Central_Russia_and_the_global_ecological_crisis_at_the_Permo-Triassic_boundary}}> It had originally been incorrectly recorded as the [[jawbone]] of a [[gorgonopsian]] similar to ''[[Inostrancevia]]''. Given the low presence of gorgonopsians during the Late Permian in Russia, the fossil was reassigned to a large [[therocephalian]] in a work published in 1997, without however receiving a [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial name]].{{cite book|language=ru, en|author1=M. F. Ivakhnenko|author2=V. K. Golubev|author3=Yu. M. Gubin|author4=N. N. Kalandadze|author5=I. V. Novikov|author6=A. G. Sennikov|author7=A. S. Rautian|title=Пермские и триасовые тетраподы Восточной Европы|trans-title=Permian and Triassic tetrapods of Eastern Europe|location=[[Moscou]]|publisher=GEOS|year=1997|page=33|isbn=5-89118-029-4|url=https://www.geokniga.org/books/2472}} In 2001, [[Mikhaïl Ivakhnenko|Mikhail Feodosievich Ivakhnenko]] attributed two additional fossil remains to the still unnamed [[taxon]]. The first is a partial [[Maxilla|maxillary bone]], cataloged PIN 1538/39, discovered in the locality of Purly, in the [[Nizhny Novgorod Oblast]]. The second is the right part of an incomplete mandible, cataloged PIN 4417/101, discovered in the locality of Shabarshata, in the [[Kirov Oblast]].{{cite book|language=ru|author=Mikhail F. Ivakhnenko|title=Тетраподы Восточно-Европейского плакката - позднепалеозойского территориально-природного комплекса|trans-title=Tetrapods of the East European Plakkat - Late Paleozoic Territorial-Natural Complex|publisher=Alexander Doweld|location=[[Perm, Russia|Perm]]|volume=283|pages=127–128|year=2001|isbn=5-88345-064-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N524Vah8MRAC}}

Ivakhnenko published in 2008 a formal description of the new taxa, based on the specimens PIN 1100/101 and PIN 1538/39, describing it as the first Late Permian [[Whaitsiidae|whaitsiid]] from [[Eastern Europe]].{{cite journal|author=Mikhail F. Ivakhnenko|title=The First Whaitsiid (Therocephalia, Theromorpha)|journal=[[Paleontological Journal]]|volume=42|issue=4|pages=409–413|year=2008|doi=10.1134/S0031030108040102|s2cid=140547244}} Subsequently, the scope of whaitsiids was expanded to include discoveries made earlier in the Permian deposits of the same Russian regions, including ''[[Moschowhaitsia]]'' and ''[[Viatkosuchus]]'', described in 1963 and 1995 respectively.{{cite journal|author1=Adam K. Huttenlocker|author2=Roger M. H. Smith|year=2017|title=New whaitsioids (Therapsida: Therocephalia) from the Teekloof Formation of South Africa and therocephalian diversity during the end-Guadalupian extinction|journal=[[PeerJ]]|volume=5|article-number=e3868|doi=10.7717/peerj.3868|pmc=5632541|pmid=29018609|doi-access=free}} The genus name ''Megawhaitsia'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] μέγας (''megas'', "great"), combined with the name of another therocephalian genus, ''Whaitsia'' (name witch is today [[Synonym (taxonomy)|synonymous]] with ''[[Theriognathus]]''). The [[Specific name (zoology)|specific epithet]] ''patrichae'' honors the Australian paleontologist [[Patricia Vickers-Rich]].

Ivakhnenko published in 2008 a formal description of the new taxa, based on the specimens PIN 1100/101 and PIN 1538/39, describing it as the first Late Permian [[Whaitsiidae|whaitsiid]] from [[Eastern Europe]].{{cite journal|author=Mikhail F. Ivakhnenko|title=The First Whaitsiid (Therocephalia, Theromorpha)|journal=[[Paleontological Journal]]|volume=42|issue=4|pages=409–413|year=2008|doi=10.1134/S0031030108040102|s2cid=140547244}} Subsequently, the scope of whaitsiids was expanded to include discoveries made earlier in the Permian deposits of the same Russian regions, including ''[[Moschowhaitsia]]'' and ''[[Viatkosuchus]]'', described in 1963 and 1995 respectively.{{cite journal|author1=Adam K. Huttenlocker|author2=Roger M. H. Smith|year=2017|title=New whaitsioids (Therapsida: Therocephalia) from the Teekloof Formation of South Africa and therocephalian diversity during the end-Guadalupian extinction|journal=[[PeerJ]]|volume=5|article-number=e3868|doi=10.7717/peerj.3868|pmc=5632541|pmid=29018609|doi-access=free}} The genus name ''Megawhaitsia'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] μέγας (''megas'', "great"), combined with the name of another therocephalian genus, ''Whaitsia'' (name witch is today [[Synonym (taxonomy)|synonymous]] with ''[[Theriognathus]]''). The [[Specific name (zoology)|specific epithet]] ''patrichae'' honors the Australian paleontologist [[Patricia Vickers-Rich]].