''Blattoidealestes'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

therocephalia Therocephalia is an extinct suborder of eutheriodont therapsids (mammals and their close relatives) from the Permian and Triassic. The therocephalians ("beast-heads") are named after their large skulls, which, along with the structure of their te ...

therapsid 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 ...

from the

Middle Permian The Guadalupian is the second and middle series/epoch of the Permian. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by the Lopingian. It is named after the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and dates between 272.95 ± 0. ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''Blattoidealestes gracilis'' was named by South African paleontologist

Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra Lieuwe Dirk Boonstra (1905 – 1975) was a South African palaeontologist whose work focused on the therapsida, mammal-like reptiles of the Middle ( Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, ''Tapinocephalus'' Assemblage Zone) and Late Permian, whose fossil ...

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 ''Perplexisaurus'' is a genus of therocephalian therapsid from the Middle to Late Permian ''Deltavjatia vjatkensis'' Assemblage Zone, Vanyushonki Member of the Urpalov Formation of Russia. It was described by L. P. Tatarinov in 1997, and the t ...

'' from Russia, and may be closely related. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen of ''Blattoidealestes'' was discovered in 1918 in

Prince Albert, Western Cape Prince Albert ( af, Prins Albert) is a small town in the Western Cape in South Africa. It is located on the southern edge of the Great Karoo, at the foot of the Swartberg mountains. In recent years the moniker the "''Franschhoek of the Karoo''" has ...

and cataloged as

SAM Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

4321. SAM 4321 consists of a skull and partial postcranial skeleton. At around , the skull is extremely small for a therocephalian. It was heavily distorted during fossilization and preparation, with the right side heavily eroded and most of the skull having been broken off from the main block. The snout is short and the eye sockets are very large. The lower jaw is slender, with a projection called the

coronoid process The Coronoid process (from Greek , "like a crown") can refer to: * The coronoid process of the mandible, part of the ramus mandibulae of the mandible * The coronoid process of the ulna The coronoid process of the ulna is a triangular process proj ...

very prominent. The skull bears many small teeth, including a pair of canines in the upper and lower jaws. Each postcanine tooth has lateral grooves on its surface, creating several small cusps. Cuspid teeth are common in

Late Permian Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

and Triassic therocephalians, and the closely related cynodonts, which are the ancestors of mammals, but no earlier theriodont possesses this type of tooth. Therefore, ''Blattoidealestes'' represents the oldest record of multicuspid teeth among

theriodont The theriodonts (clade Theriodontia) are a major group of therapsids which appeared during the Middle Permian and which includes the gorgonopsians and the eutheriodonts, itself including the therocephalians and the cynodonts. Naming In 1876, Rich ...

s. Although it is one of the earliest members of the group, ''Blattoidealestes'' is in a

derived Derive may refer to: * Derive (computer algebra system), a commercial system made by Texas Instruments * ''Dérive'' (magazine), an Austrian science magazine on urbanism *Dérive, a psychogeographical concept See also * *Derivation (disambiguatio ...

position among therocephalians. Due to its small size, ''Blattoidealestes'' was originally classified with other tiny therocephalians in a group called Scaloposauria. Scaloposauria has fallen out of use in recent years, and is now thought to represent a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

assemblage of juvenile therocephalians. Along with many other small-bodied "scaloposaurians", ''Blattoidealestes'' is now classified as a member of the advanced therocephalian

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

Baurioidea Baurioidea is a superfamily of therocephalian therapsids. It includes advanced therocephalians such as ''Regisaurus'' and ''Bauria''. The superfamily was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1911. Bauriamorpha, named by D. M. ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4925526 Guadalupian synapsids of Africa Ictidosuchids Guadalupian synapsids Guadalupian genus first appearances Guadalupian genus extinctions