Robertia is an extinct genus of small herbivorous dicynodonts from the Middle to Late Permian of South Africa, between 260 and 265 million years ago. It is a monospecific genus, consisting of the type-species R. broomiana, which was classified by Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra in 1948 and named in honor of Robert Broom for his study of South African mammal-like reptiles.
Jonkeria is an extinct genus of dinocephalians. Jonkeria was a large and omnivorous animal, from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, Lower Beaufort Group, of the South African Karoo.
Anteosaurus is an extinct genus of large carnivorous dinocephalian synapsid. It lived at the end of the Guadalupian during the Capitanian stage, about 265 to 260 million years ago in what is now South Africa. It is mainly known by cranial remains and few postcranial bones. Measuring 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long and weighing about 600 kg (1,300 lb), Anteosaurus was the largest known carnivorous non-mammalian synapsid and the largest terrestrial predator of the Permian period. Occupying the top of the food chain in the Middle Permian, its skull, jaws and teeth show adaptations to capture large prey like the giants titanosuchids and tapinocephalids dinocephalians and large pareiasaurs.
The Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone is a tetrapod assemblage zone or biozone which correlates to the middle Abrahamskraal Formation, Adelaide Subgroup of the Beaufort Group, a fossiliferous and geologically important geological Group of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. The thickest outcrops, reaching approximately 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), occur from Merweville and Leeu-Gamka in its southernmost exposures, from Sutherland through to Beaufort West where outcrops start to only be found in the south-east, north of Oudshoorn and Willowmore, reaching up to areas south of Graaff-Reinet. Its northernmost exposures occur around the towns Fraserburg and Victoria West. The Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone is the second biozone of the Beaufort Group.
Styracocephalus platyrhynchus is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsid that existed during the mid-Permian throughout South Africa, but mainly in the Karoo Basin. It is often referred to by its single known species Styracocephalus platyrhynchus. The Dinocephalia clade consisted of the largest land vertebrates and herbivores during the early to mid-Permian. This period is often also referred to as the Guadalupian epoch, approximately 270 to 260 million years ago.
Burnetia is an extinct genus of biarmosuchian therapsids in the family Burnetiidae, from the Late Permian of South Africa. Burnetia is known so far from a single holotype skull lacking the lower jaws described by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1923. Due to erosion and dorsoventral crushing, features of the skull are hard to interpret. Stutural lines are further distorted by the unusual shape of the skull roof, including many bosses and protuberances.
Paraburnetia is an extinct genus of biarmosuchian therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa. It is known for its species P. sneeubergensis and belongs to the family Burnetiidae. Paraburnetia lived just before the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event.
Lobalopex is an extinct genus of biarmosuchian therapsids. It was alive during the Late Permian and has only been found in the Teekloof Formation in South Africa. The only known species of the genus is Lobalopex mordax. Lobalopex is part of the clade of Burnetiamorpha, which have fossil specimens located in multiple areas of Africa and Russia.
Eriphostoma is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids known from the Middle Permian of Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, South Africa. It has one known species, Eriphostoma microdon, and was first named by Robert Broom in 1911. It is the oldest known gorgonopsian and among the smallest and most basal members of the clade.
Hipposaurus is an extinct genus of basal therapsids known from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Main Karoo Basin, South Africa. Chronologically this is within the Capitanian stage of the Guadalupian Series. The genus was first described by S.H. Haughton as H. boonstrai on the basis of a skull and associated skeleton and was later considered a gorgonopsian in the family 'Ictidorhinidae' by Robert Broom. It is now considered a basal biarmosuchian, but its affinities remain uncertain. Some authors note the similarity of its braincase with that of Herpetoskylax. H. boonstrai is currently known from only two specimens in the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town.
Koupia is a dubious extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsid. The type species, K. koupensis, was coined by Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra in 1948, with a well-preserved skull from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of South Africa, SAM-PK-11796, designated the holotype. This specimen has since been lost, and K. koupensis is currently considered a nomen dubium or a possible junior synonym of Brachyprosopus broomi.
Lycaenodon is an extinct genus of biarmosuchian therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa. It is known from a single species, Lycaenodon longiceps, which was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1925. Both are small-bodied biarmosuchians. Two specimens are known, and both preserve only the front portions of the skull. These specimens come from the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin. Broom attributed the back portion of a third skull to Lycaenodon, but subsequent examiners considered it to belong to a gorgonopsian or dinocephalian and not a biarmosuchian. Most of the distinguishing features of Lycaenodon come from its palate. As a member of Biarmosuchia, the most basal group of therapsids, Lycaenodon shares many features with earlier and less mammal-like synapsids like Dimetrodon.
Moschognathus is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsid in the family Tapinocephalidae. The genus includes only the type species M. whaitsi, named by palaeontologist Robert Broom in 1914. It was a short-snouted tapinocephalid, closely related to and resembling the well-known genus Moschops, but its skull is less thickened overall has a relatively longer and shallower snout by comparison. Indeed, Moschognathus has typically been regarded as a junior synonym of Moschops since 1969 after Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra sunk Moschognathus into Moschops, albeit retained as its own doubtfully valid species. However, researchers in the 21st century have expressed doubt over this synonymy and suggested that Moschognathus is a distinct taxon after all, including first by Christian Kammerer in a 2009 Ph.D. thesis and formally in 2015 by Alessandra D. S. Boos and colleagues in 2015. Moschognathus has since began to re-enter scientific literature of dinocephalians as a valid name and treated distinct from Moschops.
Scymnosaurus is a dubious genus of therocephalian therapsids based upon various fossils of large early therocephalians. The genus was described by Robert Broom in 1903 with S. ferox, followed by S. watsoni in 1915 and a third, S. major, by Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra in 1954. Each of these species are considered nomen dubia today and based upon specimens belonging to two separate families of therocephalians. S. ferox and S. major represent specimens of Lycosuchidae incertae sedis, while S. watsoni is Scylacosauridae incertae sedis. Broom named a fourth species in 1907 from KwaZulu-Natal, S. warreni, though he later referred it to Moschorhinus as a valid species in 1932 but now is recognised as being synonymous with M. kitchingi.
Criocephalosaurus is an extinct genus of tapinocephalian therapsids that lived in Southern Africa during the Guadalupian epoch of the Permian. They are the latest surviving dinocephalians, extending past the Abrahamskraal Formation into the lowermost Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation in South Africa. They are also regarded as the most derived of the dinocephalians, alongside Tapinocephalus, and the most abundant in the fossil record.
The Abrahamskraal Formation is a geological formation and is found in numerous localities in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, and the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is the lowermost formation of the Adelaide Subgroup of the Beaufort Group, a major geological group that forms part of the greater Karoo Supergroup. It represents the first fully terrestrial geological deposits of the Karoo Basin. Outcrops of the Abrahamskraal Formation are found from the small town Middelpos in its westernmost localities, then around Sutherland, the Moordenaarskaroo north of Laingsburg, Williston, Fraserburg, Leeu-Gamka, Loxton, and Victoria West in the Western Cape and Northern Cape. In the Eastern Cape outcrops are known from Rietbron, north of Klipplaat and Grahamstown, and also southwest of East London.
Blattoidealestes is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsid from the Middle Permian of South Africa. The type species Blattoidealestes gracilis was named by South African paleontologist Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in 1954. Dating back to the Middle Permian, Blattoidealestes is one of the oldest therocephalians. It is similar in appearance to the small therocephalian Perplexisaurus from Russia, and may be closely related.
Ictidosaurus was a therapsid genus found in the Abrahamskraal Formation of South Africa, which lived during the middle Permian period. Fossils of the type species were found in the Tapinocephalus, and the base of the Eodicynodon assembly zones, of the Karoo Basin. Older classifications of the species, along with many other specimens found in the Iziko South African Museum archives, were originally classified within therocephalian family names, in this case the Ictidosauridae, which has been reclassified as belonging to the Scylacosauridae. The type species is I. angusticeps.
Phorcys is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian that lived during the Middle Permian period (Guadalupian) of what is now South Africa. It is known from two specimens, both portions from the back of the skull, that were described and named in 2022 as a new genus and species P. dubei by Christian Kammerer and Bruce Rubidge. Phorcys was recovered from the lowest strata of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (AZ) of the Beaufort Group, making it one of the oldest known gorgonopsians in the fossil record—second only to fragmentary remains of an indeterminate specimen from the older underlying Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone. The generic name is from Phorcys of Greek mythology, the father of the Gorgons from which the gorgonopsians are named after, and refers to its status as one of the oldest representatives of the group.
