Sycosaurus is an extinct genus of rubidgeine gorgonopsians from the Wuchiapingian (Upper Permian) Cistecephalus zone of South Africa. It was medium-sized, about 1.2 m in length.[2] It was first named by Haughton in 1924, and contains two species, S. laticeps and S. nowaki.[3]

Sycosaurus
Temporal range: Late Permian[1] 259–252.3 Ma
Holotype skull of S. laticeps
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Gorgonopsia
Family: Gorgonopsidae
Subfamily: Rubidgeinae
Genus: Sycosaurus
Haughton, 1924
Type species
Sycosaurus laticeps
Species
  • S. laticeps Haughton, 1924
  • S. nowaki Broili & Schröder, 1936
Synonyms

Genus-level

  • Tetraodon Broili & Schröder, 1936
  • Tetradontonius Kuhn, 1961
  • Cephalicustriodus Parrington, 1974

S. nowaki

  • Tetraodon nowaki Broili & Schröder, 1936
  • Lycaenops kingoriensis Huene, 1950
  • Tetraodontonius nowaki Kuhn, 1961
  • Leontocephalus intactus Kemp, 1969
Restoration of S. laticeps with prey
Holotype of S. nowaki

References edit

  1. ^ "Sycosaurus". Fossilworks.
  2. ^ "Sycosaurus - Palaeocritti - a guide to prehistoric animals". www.palaeocritti.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016.
  3. ^ Kammerer CF. (2016) Systematics of the Rubidgeinae (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia) PeerJ 4:e1608 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1608