Name: Cacops
(blind
face).
Phonetic: Cay-cops.
Named By: Williston - 1910.
Classification: Chordata, Amphibia, Temnospondyli,
Euskelia, Dissorophoidea, Dissorophidae.
Species: C. aspideporus (type), C.
morrisi, C. woehri.
Type: Carnivore/insectivore.
Size: 40 centimetres long.
Known locations: USA, Texas.
Time period: Early Permian.
Fossil representation: Many specimens known.
Cacops had many bony plates mainly concentrated along its back. These plates may have given it some protection from other terrestrial predators of the time. The large otic notch at the back of the skull suggests that Cacops had good hearing. Cacops itself was a predator, likely feeding upon invertebrates and smaller vertebrates.
Further reading
- Cacops, Desmospondylus; new
genera of Permian vertebrates. -
Geological Society America Bulletin 21:249-284. - S. W. Williston -
1910.
- Cacops (Amphibia, Labyrinthodontia) from the Fort
Sill Locality,
Lower Permian of Oklahoma. - Fieldiana: Geology. 37: 61–73. - John R.
Bolt - 1977.
- Biomechanics of the vertebrae and associated osteoderms of the Early
Permian amphibian Cacops aspidephorus. - Journal of
Zoology. 271 (4):
396–407. - D. Dilkes & L. E. Brown - 2007.
- The armoured dissorophid Cacops from the Early
Permian of Oklahoma
and the exploitation of the terrestrial realm by amphibians. -
Naturwissenschaften 96 (7): 789–796. - R. R. Reisz, R. R. Schoch
& J. S. Anderson - 2009.
- Comparison and biomechanical interpretations of the vertebrae and
osteoderms of Cacops aspidephorus and Dissorophus
multicinctus
(Temnospondyli, Dissorophidae). - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
29 (4): 1013–1021. - David W. Dilkes - 2009.
- A new species of dissorophid (Cacops woehri) from
the Lower Permian
Dolese Quarry, near Richards Spur, Oklahoma. - Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology. 32 (1): 35–44. - Nadia B. Fr�bisch & Robert R.
Reisz - 2012.
- New specimen of Cacops woehri indicates
differences in the
ontogenetic trajectories among cacopine dissorophids. - Fossil Record.
18 (1): 73–80. - N. B. Fr�bisch, A. Brar & R. R. Reisz - 2015.
- Cranial and postcranial anatomy of Cacops morrisi,
a eucacopine
dissorophid from the early Permian of Oklahoma. - Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology. 38 (2): e1433186. - Bryan M. Gee & Robert R.
Reisz - 2018.