page_title: Bulbasaurus
section_title: Mandible and postcrania
hierarchical_section_title: Bulbasaurus / Description / Mandible and postcrania
caption_attribution_description: English: Figure 13: Stereopair of CGP/1/970, referred specimen of Bulbasaurus phylloxyron gen. et sp. nov., in semi-dorsal view. Scale bars equal 5 cm.
context_page_description: Bulbasaurus is an extinct genus of dicynodont that is known from the Lopingian epoch of the Late Permian period of what is now South Africa, containing the type and only species B. phylloxyron. It was formerly considered as belonging to Tropidostoma; however, due to numerous differences from Tropidostoma in terms of skull morphology and size, it has been reclassified the earliest known member of the family Geikiidae, and the only member of the group known from the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone. Within the Geikiidae, it has been placed close to Aulacocephalodon, although a more basal position is not implausible.
  Bulbasaurus was not directly named after the Pokémon Bulbasaur, but rather after its nasal bosses, which are unusually bulbous among geikiids; however, the describers noted that the similarity in name "may not be entirely coincidental." Additionally, the specific name of the type species means "leaf razor", which is most directly a reference to its keratin-covered jaws. Other distinguishing characteristics of Bulbasaurus among the geikiids include the hook-like beak, very large tusks, and absence of bossing on the prefrontal bone.
context_section_description: The mandible of Bulbasaurus was largely similar to Aulacephalodon. At the front of the mandible, the two toothless dentary bones fuse at the front to form a continuous beak with a sharp, pointed tip. The somewhat convex front surface of this junction, or the dentary symphysis, is separated from the sides of the dentaries by sharp ridges, a condition also seen in Pelanomodon and Geikia but not seen in Aulacephalodon. Overall, the dentary was tall and robust, the symphysis more so than the rest of the bone. Located at the mid-height of the dentaries are the mandibular fenestrae, which are small and oval, and bordered on top by a dentary shelf that expands into a boss. Asides from the skull, the other portions of Bulbasaurus have not been prepared in depth. The ribs are gently curved and are bicipital in that they have two heads. On the humerus, the deltopectoral crest was robust and strongly separated.
caption: Referred specimen CGP/1/970 viewed from above, with postcrania at bottom
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