Bunestegos- Pangean Loner

New fossils from northern Niger in Africa have been described in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.The distinctive creature belongs to a new genus of pareiasaur - plant-eating creatures that flourished during the Permian period.The cow-sized specimen has been named Bunostegos, which means "knobby roof".During Permian times, the Earth was dominated by a single supercontinent called Pangaea.Animal and plant life dispersed broadly across the land, as documented by identical fossil species found on multiple modern continents.But the new research by an international team supports the idea that there was an isolated desert in the middle of Pangaea with distinctive animals. Most pareiasaurs had bony knobs on their skulls, but Bunostegos sported the largest, most bulbous ones ever seen in this group, which were common in the Middle and Late Permian, about 266-252 million years ago. Experts are unsure for the about the use of these knobs in pareiasaurs "The most probable use was for inter-specific (between species) or intra-specific (within species) recognition.". The finds support the theory that central pangea was climatically isolated. This means it's creatures would have been very different to the other animals on the coastal fringes of Pangea. Bunostegos would have been one of a kind, like no other creature on earth at the time. Scientists are yet to explore much of the remnants of central Pangea for fossils. Meaning further Permian 'oddities' may be yet to be discovered.