Kawingasaurus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian Usili Formation of Tanzania. It is a member of the family Cistecephalidae, and like other cistecephalids it is thought to have been fossorial. It is a member of the family Cistecephalidae. Cistephalidae includes genera Cisteceohalus, Cistecephaloides and Kawingasaurus. Greek for Saurus meaning “lizard” appears as a suffix denoting a reptilian origin. Living between 254.17 and 259.9 million years ago in the late Permian and believed to have the first and last recorded appearance in this time period. It lived in deep burrows as a suggested by most burrowing[1] dicynodonts from evaluation of cranial sutures, vestibule inflation and enlarged stapes foot plates which are thought to be functionally correlated with bone-conduction hearing; all observed in fossorial vertebrates which use seismic signals as communication.[2]
Dicynodontoides was very briefly first described by Sir Richard Owen in his catalog of fossil reptilia in 1876. He described them as being “a very peculiar family of reptiles from the Trias of South Africa with a remarkable skull and a single pair of huge sharp-pointed tusks growing downward.[3]” Owen described these singular animals to have no other kind of teeth except for a beak-like mouth.[3] At least 13 specimens were referred to C. microrhinus and C. Planiceps were not described in detail to provide photos or museum numbers for them.[2] A first detailed description of these fossils was provided by von Huene (1942)[4] who mentioned notable differences of characteristics of Cistecephalus such as smaller orbits, smaller sized skulls and a flattened snout region despite ascribing the fossils to Cistepahlus planiceps (now considered a junior synonym of C. microrhinus).[5]
In 1936, seven skulls, parts of the vertebrae, a mandible, ribs and parts of the girdles were excavated by German geologist and engineer Ernst Nowack and his wife Maria Nowack on an expedition in the Ruhuhu area of Southwest Tanzania.[6][2] The fossils were preserved as a part of Nowack’s collection in the Institut und Museum fur Geologic and Paläontologie der Universitat Tubingen (GPIT No. U 31).[6] Later, in 1972 Cox [7] investigated the fossils and found further differences between Cistephalus and the excavated skulls. A tapering shape of the skull in lateral and dorsal view, slenderness of the zygomatic arches, and anterior extension of the squamosal to meet the maxilla led to Cox [2][7] establishing the new genus and species, since Owen’s initial description[3] of the group in 1876, K. fossilis due to significant evidence of distinct differences from Cistecephalus.
Kawingsaurus Fossils were discovered in the Usili Formation which was a late Permian geologic formation in Tanzania. British geologist G. M. Stockely first studied this formation and the fossils within in 1932 and divided it into units labeled K1-K8.[8] Later in 1957, paleontologst Alan J. Charig discovered more fossils and renamed the K6 unit the Kawinga Formation.[8] Since then it has been renamed the Usili Formation.[5] Kawingasaurus fossilis’ locality was found in Kingori of the Arusha Region of Tanzania. The material found for Kawingasauerus at this site included UT K 52, skull and dentary; UT K 56, skull; UT K 55, 5 skulls and post crania.[8]