| Kawingasaurus Temporal range: Late Permian
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Family: | †Cistecephalidae |
| Genus: | †Kawingasaurus Cox, 1972 |
| Type species | |
| Kawingasaurus fossilis Cox, 1972
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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]
- ^ Smith, Roger M.H.; Angielczyk, Kenneth D.; Benoit, Julien; Fernandez, Vincent (May 2021). "Neonate aggregation in the Permian dicynodont Diictodon (Therapsida, Anomodontia): Evidence for a reproductive function for burrows?". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 569: 110311. Bibcode:2021PPP...569k0311S. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110311. S2CID 233585323.
- ^ Laaß, Michael (February 2015). "Bone‐conduction hearing and seismic sensitivity of the Late Permian anomodont K awingasaurus fossilis". Journal of Morphology. 276 (2): 121–143. doi:10.1002/jmor.20325. ISSN 0362-2525. PMID 25284624. S2CID 22248391.