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Description
Working on a reconstruction of the Permian synapsid Cotylorhynchus, the most well-known member of the highly unusual Caseasauria. These animals had big, wide bodies, massive forelimbs adapted for digging (and perhaps burrowing), and, famously, a comically small head. Caseids are one of the best examples of morphological extremes achieved by animal lineages during the Permian and Triassic, and I find them to be kind of like the anatomical opposite of erythrosuchids. In my reconstruction, I'm giving Cotylorhynchus big, fleshy nostrils (the skull has huge nostril openings) and cornified pads all over the skin. The skull texture is reminiscent (to me, a layperson with very limited knowledge of osteological correlates for integument) of animals that have similar structures, so I decided to give it these toughened patches all over the skin. I figured this could help it in a fossorial lifestyle, as modern burrowers like armadillos and mastigures have similar "armored" skin.

Description
Working on a reconstruction of the Permian synapsid Cotylorhynchus, the most well-known member of the highly unusual Caseasauria. These animals had big, wide bodies, massive forelimbs adapted for digging (and perhaps burrowing), and, famously, a comically small head. Caseids are one of the best examples of morphological extremes achieved by animal lineages during the Permian and Triassic, and I find them to be kind of like the anatomical opposite of erythrosuchids. In my reconstruction, I'm giving Cotylorhynchus big, fleshy nostrils (the skull has huge nostril openings) and cornified pads all over the skin. The skull texture is reminiscent (to me, a layperson with very limited knowledge of osteological correlates for integument) of animals that have similar structures, so I decided to give it these toughened patches all over the skin. I figured this could help it in a fossorial lifestyle, as modern burrowers like armadillos and mastigures have similar "armored" skin.