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Lycosuchus

Lycosuchus Temporal range: Middle Permian, 265–260 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Lycosuchus vanderrieti skull (MB.R.995) at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	†Therocephalia
Family:	†Lycosuchidae
Genus:	†Lycosuchus Broom, 1903
Species:	†L. vanderrieti
Binomial name
†Lycosuchus vanderrieti Broom, 1903

Lycosuchus ("wolf crocodile") is an extinct genusofcarnivorous therocephalians which lived in the Middle Permian 265—260 Ma existing for approximately 5 million years. As a member of the Lycosuchidae, the genus represents one of the earliest diverging therocephalians. The type and only species, L. vanderrieti, is known from a handful of well-preserved specimens featuring the cranium and lower jaw; the holotype US D173 housed at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, is a near complete occluded skull.^[1] Specimen MB.R. 995, housed at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany, consists of a near complete and isolated lower jaw, along with a partial snout and brain case.^[2] With the help of μCT data, Pusch et al (2020) ^[2] described the endocranial anatomy of Lycosuchus vanderrieti.

It was a medium-sized predator, reaching 1.2 m (3.8 ft) in length with a skull 23 cm long.,^[3] typical of early therocephalians. L. vanderrieti bore two functional canines in each maxilla, possibly due to a protracted tooth replacement.^[2] Both the upper canines and the single canine of the lower jaw are serrated.

Discovered in South Africa, it was named by paleontologist Robert Broom^[4] in 1903 and later assigned by him to Therocephalia.

• List of therapsids

• http://fossils.valdosta.edu/fossil_pages/fossils_per/t72.html Cast of skull and jaw courtesy of the National Museum, Bloemfontein South Africa

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