Arctognathus

Arctognathus
Temporal range: Permian
Life restoration of A. curvimola
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Therapsida
Family: †Gorgonopsidae
Genus: †Arctognathus
Broom, 1911
Species
  • †A. curvimola (Owen, 1876 [originally Lycosaurus curvimola]) (type)
Synonyms
  • Arctognathoides Boonstra, 1934
  • Lycaenodontoides Haughton, 1924

Arctognathus is an extinct genus of gorgonopsid that throve during the Late Permian in the Karoo basin of what is now South Africa.[1]

Discovery

1886 illustration of a A. curvimola skull

A carnivore, like all gorgonopsid, Arctognathus was given its name ("Bear jaw") in reference to its short and rounded snout. There is only one recognized species, A. curvimola.[2]

Description

It was a small gorgonopsid with a total length estimated at 1.1 m and an 18 cm skull.[3]

Classification

Restoration of A. curvimola in environment
Head of A. curvimola

Below is a cladogram from the phylogenetic analysis of Gebauer (2007):[4]

Gorgonopsia 

Aloposaurus




Cyonosaurus




Aelurosaurus


Gorgonopsidae

Scylacognathus




Eoarctops



Gorgonops




Njalila




Lycaenops




Arctognathus




Inostrancevia


Rubidgeinae

Aelurognathus




Rubidgea




Sycosaurus



Clelandina














See also

References

  1. ↑ Sidor 2003, p. 606
  2. ↑ Christian F. Kammerer (2014) Cranial osteology of Arctognathus curvimola, a short-snouted gorgonopsian from the Late Permian of South Africa. Papers in Palaeontology (advance online publication) DOI: 10.1002/spp2.1002 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1002/abstract
  3. ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/palaeocritti/by-group/gorgonopsia/arctognathus
  4. ↑ Gebauer, E.V.I. (2007). Phylogeny and evolution of the Gorgonopsia with a special reference to the skull and skeleton of GPIT/RE/7113 ('Aelurognathus?' parringtoni) (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). Tübingen: Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen. pp. 1–316.

Bibliography

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