skeletal aggregation of mammal precursors: Pantelosaurus saxonicus

The famous "saurian" slab from Freital in Saxony, recovered from a depth of 300 meters in 1901, contains six skeletons of a medium-sized "pelycosaur", Pantelosaurus. Its anatomy is so remarkably inconspicuous that it is not possible to determine with certainty whether this is a primitive therapsid, i.e. a representative of the lineage that evolved to become noticeably mammal-like in the course of the Permian. There is a lack of comparative data. The recently resumed research is concentrating on the factors of preservation. The working hypothesis is that it was not a true pack. This needs to be verified, and the first changes to this color code have already been made.

get article via researchgate: Spindler, F. (2016): Morphological description and taxonomic status of Palaeohatteria and Pantelosaurus (Synapsida: Sphenacodontia). Freiberger Forschungshefte C, 550(23): 1-57.

pencil, digitally recolored (corrections awaited from current study 2025)