Arctognathus
Name:
Arctognathus
(bear jaw).
Phonetic: Ark-to-nay-fuss.
Named By: Robert Broom - 1911.
Synonyms: Arctognathoides,
Lycaenodontoides, Lycosaurus curvimola.
Classification: Chordata, Therapsida,
Gorgonopsidae.
Species: A. curvimola
(type), A. breviceps?
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 18 centimetre skull, Body about 1.1
meters long.
Known locations: South Africa.
Time period: Late Permian.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.
With a body length of just over one meter, Arctognathus was on the small side for a gorgonopsid, but it still would have been a potent predator in its own right. Two additional species of Arctognathus once existed, but these have now been assigned to new genera. Fossils of Arctognathus cookei have now been moved to Anoplosaurus, though they are also indeterminate. Arctognathus nasuta fossils have now been used to establish the type species of the genus Njalila.
Further reading
- Cranial osteology of Arctognathus curvimola, a
short-snouted
gorgonopsian from the Late Permian of South Africa. - Papers in
Palaeontology - Christian F. Kammerer - 2014.
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