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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