Lycaenops

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Lycaenops
Temporal range: Guadalupian (Capitanian), 260  Ma
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Lycaenops ornatus Buffalo Museum of Science.jpg
L. ornatus skeleton, Buffalo Museum of Science
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Gorgonopsia
Family: Gorgonopsidae
Genus: Lycaenops
Broom, 1925
Type species
Lycaenops ornatus
Broom, 1925
Species
  • L. ornatusBroom, 1925
  • L. angusticepsBroom, 1913
  • L. microdonBoonstra, 1934
  • L. sollasiBroili and Schröder, 1935
Synonyms
  • Lycaenoides
    Broom, 1925
  • Aelurognathus microdon
    Boonstra, 1934
  • Aelurognathus sollasi
    Broili and Schröder, 1935
  • Scymnognathus angusticeps
    Broom, 1913

Lycaenops ("wolf-face") is a genus of carnivorous therapsids. It lived during the Middle Permian to the early Late Permian, about 260 mya, in what is now South Africa. [1]

Contents

Description

Reconstruction of L. ornatus Lycaenops ornatus (2).jpg
Reconstruction of L. ornatus
Life restoration with dicynodont prey and speculative hair Lycaenops life restoration.jpg
Life restoration with dicynodont prey and speculative hair

Like the modern-day wolves from which it takes its name, Lycaenops had a long and slender skull, with a set of dog-like fangs set into both its upper and lower jaws. [2] These pointed canine teeth were ideal for the use of stabbing and/or tearing at the flesh of any large prey that it came upon. Lycaenops most likely hunted small vertebrates such as reptiles and dicynodonts.

Lycaenops walked and ran with its long legs held close to its body. This is a feature found in mammals, but not in more primitive amniotes, early reptiles, and synapsids such as pelycosaurs, whose legs are positioned to the sides of their bodies. The ability to move like a mammal would have given Lycaenops an advantage over other land vertebrates, since it would have been able to outrun them.

Species

A Lycaenops skeleton in the Milan Natural History Museum Lycaenops ornatus 1.JPG
A Lycaenops skeleton in the Milan Natural History Museum

The type species Lycaenops ornatus was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1925. [3]

Several other species have also been referred to the genus, including L. angusticeps, which was originally named Scymnognathus angusticeps. It is currently considered a valid taxon. [4]

Several other specimens have been referred to as Lycaenops, but are no longer included within this genus. This includes:

Classification

Skull of L. cf. angusticeps at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Lycaenops FMNH.jpg
Skull of L. cf. angusticeps at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

Below is a cladogram from the phylogenetic analysis of Gebauer (2007): [5]

Gorgonopsia 

Aloposaurus

Cyonosaurus

Aelurosaurus

Gorgonopsidae

Scylacognathus

Eoarctops

Gorgonops

Njalila

Lycaenops

Arctognathus

Inostrancevia

Rubidgeinae

Aelurognathus

Rubidgea

Sycosaurus

Clelandina

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synapsid</span> Clade of tetrapods

Synapsids are one of the two major groups of animals that evolved from basal amniotes, the other being the sauropsids, the group that includes reptiles and birds. The group includes mammals and every animal more closely related to mammals than to sauropsids. Unlike other amniotes, synapsids have a single temporal fenestra, an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye orbit, leaving a bony arch beneath each; this accounts for their name. The distinctive temporal fenestra developed about 318 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period, when synapsids and sauropsids diverged, but was subsequently merged with the orbit in early mammals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Therapsid</span> Clade of synapsids

Therapsida is a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals, their ancestors and relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more underneath the body, as opposed to the sprawling posture of many reptiles and salamanders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eupelycosauria</span> Clade of synapsids

Eupelycosauria is a large clade of animals characterized by the unique shape of their skull, encompassing all mammals and their closest extinct relatives. They first appeared 308 million years ago during the Early Pennsylvanian epoch, with the fossils of Echinerpeton and perhaps an even earlier genus, Protoclepsydrops, representing just one of the many stages in the evolution of mammals, in contrast to their earlier amniote ancestors.

<i>Cistecephalus</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Cistecephalus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of southern Africa. It was a small, specialised, burrowing dicynodont, possibly with habits similar to a modern mole. The head was flattened and wedge-shaped, the body long, and the forelimbs very strong, with similarities in structure to the forelimb of modern burrowing mammals.

<i>Gorgonops</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Gorgonops is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids, of which it is the type genus, having lived during the Late Permian (Wuchiapingian), about 260–254 million years ago in what is now South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biarmosuchia</span> Extinct suborder of therapsids

Biarmosuchians are an extinct clade of non-mammalian synapsids from the Permian. They are the most basal group of the therapsids. All of them were moderately-sized, lightly-built carnivores, intermediate in form between basal sphenacodont "pelycosaurs" and more advanced therapsids. Biarmosuchians were rare components of Permian ecosystems, and the majority of species belong to the clade Burnetiamorpha, which are characterized by elaborate cranial ornamentation.

<i>Dinogorgon</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Dinogorgon is a genus of gorgonopsid from the Late Permian of South Africa and Tanzania. The generic name Dinogorgon is derived from Greek, meaning "terrible gorgon", while its species name rubidgei is taken from the surname of renowned Karoo paleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted on therapsids of the Karoo Basin. The type species of the genus is D. rubidgei.

<i>Euchambersia</i> Extinct genus of therapsid from Late Permian South Africa

Euchambersia is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsids that lived during the Late Permian in what is now South Africa and China. The genus contains two species. The type species E. mirabilis was named by paleontologist Robert Broom in 1931 from a skull missing the lower jaw. A second skull, belonging to a probably immature individual, was later described. In 2022, a second species, E. liuyudongi, was named by Jun Liu and Fernando Abdala from a well-preserved skull. It is a member of the family Akidnognathidae, which historically has also been referred by as the synonymous Euchambersiidae.

<i>Arctognathus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

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

<i>Aelurognathus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Aelurognathus is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids from the Permian of South Africa.

<i>Rubidgea</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Rubidgea is a genus of gorgonopsid from the upper Permian of South Africa and Tanzania, containing the species Rubidgea atrox. The generic name Rubidgea is sometimes believed to be derived from the surname of renowned Karoo paleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted on therapsids of the Karoo Basin. However, this generic name was actually erected in honor of Rubidge's paternal grandfather, Sydney Rubidge, who was a renowned fossil hunter. Its species name atrox is derived from Latin, meaning “fierce, savage, terrible”. Rubidgea is part of the gorgonopsian subfamily Rubidgeinae, a derived group of large-bodied gorgonopsians restricted to the Late Permian (Lopingian). The subfamily Rubidgeinae first appeared in the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone. They reached their highest diversity in the Cistecephalus and Daptocephalus assemblage zones of the Beaufort Group in South Africa.

<i>Cyonosaurus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Cyonosaurus is a genus of gorgonopsian therapsids from the late Permian and possibly early Triassic of South Africa. Cyonosaurus was 0.6 to 1.1 metres in length, with a skull 9 to 18 centimetres in length. The type species Cyonosaurus longiceps was named in 1937.

<i>Aelurosaurus</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Aelurosaurus is a small, carnivorous, extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids from the Middle Permian to Late Permian of South Africa. It was discovered in the Karoo Basin of South Africa, and first named by Richard Owen in 1881. It was named so because it appeared to be an ancestor for cat-like marsupials, but not yet a mammal itself. It contains five species, A. felinus, A. whaitsi, A. polyodon, A. wilmanae, and A.? watermeyeri. A. felinus, the type species, is generally well described with established features, while the other four species are not due to their poorly preserved holotypes.

<i>Scylacops</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

Scylacops is an extinct genus of Gorgonopsia. It was first named by Broom in 1913, and contains two species, S. bigendens, and S. capensis. Its fossils have been found in South Africa and Zambia. It is believed to be closely related to the Gorgonopsian Sauroctonus progressus. Scylacops was a moderately sized Gorgonopsid.

Broomisaurus is an extinct genus of Gorgonopsia. It was first named by Joleaud in 1920, and contains the single species B. planiceps. Gebauer (2007) considered Broomisaurus to be a nomen dubium, indistinguishable as a separate taxon of gorgonopsian because it is based on only a fragmentary remains. A 2015 paper on Eriphostoma tentatively agreed with Gebauer's determination, but did not rule out the possibility that Broomisaurus might be synonymous with Eriphostoma.

<i>Paraburnetia</i> Extinct genus of therapsids

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.

Cerdorhinus is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids from the Permian of South Africa. The type species Cerdorhinus parvidens was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1936. A second species, Cerdorhinus rubidgei, was named in 1937. In 2007, a specimen of the latter was reassigned to the genus Cyonosaurus.

<i>Glanosuchus</i> Genus of therapsid from the Late Permian of South Africa

Glanosuchus is a genus of scylacosaurid therocephalian from the Late Permian of South Africa. The type species G. macrops was named by Robert Broom in 1904. Glanosuchus had a middle ear structure that was intermediate between that of early therapsids and mammals. Ridges in the nasal cavity of Glanosuchus suggest it had an at least partially endothermic metabolism similar to modern mammals.

<i>Pelanomodon</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Pelanomodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsids that lived in the Late Permian period. Fossil evidence of this genus is principally found in the Karoo Basin of South Africa, in the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone. Lack of fossil record after the Late Permian epoch suggests that Pelanomodon fell victim to the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

Scymnosaurus is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsids, first described by Robert Broom in 1903. There are three species that still take the name Scymnosaurus, S. ferox, S. watsoni and S. major, with a fourth, S. warreni, now identified as Moschorhinus warreni. Each of these have now been reclassified into Lycosuchidae incertae sedis.

References

  1. Colbert, Edwin H. (1948). "The mammal-like reptile Lycaenops". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 89 (6): 353–404.
  2. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 189. ISBN   1-84028-152-9.
  3. Broom, Robert (1925). "On some carnivorous therapsids". Records of the Albany Museum. 25: 309–326.
  4. Laurin, Michel (1998-12-28). "New data on the cranial anatomy ofLycaenops(Synapsida, Gorgonopsidae), and reflections on the possible presence of streptostyly in gorgonopsians". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (4): 765–776. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011105. ISSN   0272-4634.
  5. 1 2 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.