Amenoyengi

Amenoyengi Temporal range: Late Permian, Lopingian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Tetrapoda
Clade:	Reptiliomorpha
Family:	† Captorhinidae
Subfamily:	† Moradisaurinae
Genus:	† Amenoyengi Jenkins et al., 2025
Species:	†A. mpunduensis
Binomial name
†Amenoyengi mpunduensis Jenkins et al., 2025

Amenoyengi (meaning "many-tooth") is an extinct genus of captorhinids known from the Late Permian Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia. The genus contains a single species, Amenoyengi mpunduensis, known from a single crushed skull. As a captorhinid, Amenoyengi is part of a group of early tetrapods, and a phylogenetic analysis places it within the captorhinid subfamily Moradisaurinae, as the sister taxon to the Chinese Gansurhinus . ^[1]

Discovery and naming

The Amenoyengi holotype specimen, BP/1/3899, was discovered in during fieldwork between 1960 and 1961 by J. W. Kitching in outcrops of the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation ('Locality 4'), part of the Luangwa Basin, in northern Zambia. ^[2] The specimen consists of an isolated skull. It is dorsoventrally crushed and eroded, with much of the cranium's exterior missing due to weathering. The braincase and palate are well-preserved. The skull belongs to a subadult individual. ^[1]

In 2000, C. E. Gow published a brief description of BP/1/3899, noting the discovery of a single articulated digit found alongside the skull that was now stored separately. Gow identified the skull as an indeterminate species of the more widespread genus Captorhinus , observing that the skull demonstrated almost all of the anatomy typical of this genus aside from the morphology of the teeth. ^[2]

In 2025, Jenkins and colleagues described Amenoyengi mpunduensis as a new genus and species of captorhinids based on these fossil remains. The generic name, Amenoyengi, combines the Bemba words ameno, meaning "teeth" and yengi, meaning "many", referencing the heavily denticulate nature of the taxon, with multiple rows of teeth on the maxilla and dentary. The specific name, mpunduensis, references Old Mpundu, a village near the type locality. ^[1]

References

1. Jenkins, Xavier A.; Browning, Claire; Choiniere, Jonah; Peecook, Brandon R. (2025-08-07). "A new moradisaurine captorhinid from the Upper Permian (Lopingian) upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation (Luangwa Basin) of Zambia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 45 (sup1) e2427529. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2427529. ISSN   0272-4634.
2. Gow, C. E. (2000). "A captorhinid with multiple tooth rows from the Upper Permian of Zambia". Paleontology Africana. 36: 11–14.