Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 4, 2026

Sycosaurus

Sycosaurus is an extinct genus of rubidgeine gorgonopsians from the Wuchiapingian Cistecephalus zone of South Africa. It was medium-sized, about 1.2 m in length. It was first named by Haughton in 1924, and contains two species, S. laticeps and S. nowaki.

Last revised
Jun 4, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
167 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Sycosaurus
Temporal range: Late Permian1
Holotype skull of S. laticeps
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: †Gorgonopsia
Family: †Gorgonopsidae
Subfamily: †Rubidgeinae
Genus: †Sycosaurus
Haughton, 1924
Type species
Sycosaurus laticeps
Species
  • †S. laticeps Haughton, 1924
  • †S. nowaki Broili & Schröder, 1936
Synonyms

Genus-level

  • Tetraodon Broili & Schröder, 1936
  • Tetradontonius Kuhn, 1961
  • Cephalicustriodus Parrington, 1974

S. nowaki

  • Tetraodon nowaki Broili & Schröder, 1936
  • Lycaenops kingoriensis Huene, 1950
  • Tetraodontonius nowaki Kuhn, 1961
  • Leontocephalus intactus Kemp, 1969
Restoration of S. laticeps with prey source ↗
Holotype of S. nowaki source ↗

Sycosaurus is an extinct genus of rubidgeine gorgonopsians from the Wuchiapingian (Upper Permian) Cistecephalus zone of South Africa. It was medium-sized, about 1.2 m in length.2 It was first named by Haughton in 1924, and contains two species, S. laticeps and S. nowaki.3

References

References

  1. "Sycosaurus". Fossilworks.
  2. "Sycosaurus - Palaeocritti - a guide to prehistoric animals". www.palaeocritti.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016.
  3. Kammerer CF. (2016) Systematics of the Rubidgeinae (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia) PeerJ 4:e1608 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1608