Rhineceps
| Rhineceps Temporal range:
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|---|---|
| Restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
| Family: | †Rhinesuchidae |
| Genus: | †Rhineceps Watson, 1962 |
| Type species | |
| †Rhinesuchus nyasaensis (Haughton, 1927)
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| Other species | |
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Rhineceps is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian in the family Rhinesuchidae. Rhineceps was found in Northern Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) and Zambia in Southern Africa known from its type species R. nyasaensis and R. karibaensis. Rhineceps was a late Permian (256-258 Mya) semi-aquatic carnivore that lived in streams, rivers, lakes or lagoons. Rhineceps is an early divergent Stereopondyl within the family Rhinesuchidae, which only existed in the late Permian (Lopingian) and failed to survive the Permian-Triassic extinction unlike other stereospondyl families.