''Lycideops'' is an extinct genus of therocephalians from the Late Permian of South Africa. The type species is ''Lycideops longiceps'', named in 1931 by South African paleontologist Robert Broom. Fossils of ''Lycideops'' come from the ''Dicynodon'' Assemblage Zone of the

Beaufort Group The Beaufort Group is the third of the main subdivisions of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. It is composed of a lower Adelaide Subgroup and an upper Tarkastad Subgroup. It follows conformably after the Ecca Group and unconformably underlie ...

. ''Lycideops'' is a member of the family

Lycideopidae Lycideopidae is an extinct family of therocephalians from the Late Permian and Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between Ma and Ma (million yea ...

. Like other lycideopids, ''Lycideops'' has a long snout.

Phylogeny

''Lycideops'' has been included in several phylogenetic analyses, including those of Huttenlocker (2009), Huttenlocker ''et al.'' (2011), and Sigurdsen ''et al.'' (2012). All place ''Lycideops'' within the advanced therocephalian clade

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. ...

. Huttenlocker (2009) and Huttenlocker ''et al.'' (2011) found it to group with ''

Regisaurus ''Regisaurus'' ("Rex's lizard", named after its discoverer Francis Rex Parrington) is an extinct genus of small carnivorous therocephalian. It is known from a single described species, the type species ''Regisaurus jacobi'', from the Early Tria ...

'' and '' Scaloposaurus'' as shown in the cladogram below: The analysis of Sigurdsen ''et al.'' (2012) came to a different result, grouping ''Lycideops'' with ''

Tetracynodon ''Tetracynodon'' is an extinct genus of therocephalian. Fossils of ''Tetracynodon'' have been found in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Two species are known: the type species ''T. tenuis'' from the Late Permian and the species ''T. darti'' fro ...

'' and ''

Choerosaurus ''Choerosaurus'' is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa. The type species ''Choerosaurus dejageri'' was named by South African paleontologist Sidney H. Haughton from the ''Tropidostoma'' Assemblage ...

''. The clade including these three genera was called

, and ''Lycideops'' was the most

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

member of the group. Characteristics that unite ''Lycideops'' with ''Tetracynodon'' and ''Choerosaurus'' include the presence of five incisors on each side of the lower jaw (a derived characteristic given that most other

eutherocephalia Eutherocephalia ("true beast head") is an extinct clade of advanced therocephalian therapsids. Eutherocephalians are distinguished from the lycosuchids and scylacosaurids, two early therocephalian families. While lycosuchids and scyalosaurids b ...

ns have four), a lacrimal bone that touches the

nasal bone The nasal bones are two small oblong bones, varying in size and form in different individuals; they are placed side by side at the middle and upper part of the face and by their junction, form the bridge of the upper one third of the nose. Eac ...

, and a contact between the maxilla and the

vomer The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...

in the palate. Below is a cladogram from the analysis:

References

Baurioids Therocephalia genera Lopingian synapsids of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1931 Taxa named by Robert Broom Lopingian genus first appearances Lopingian genus extinctions {{paleo-therapsid-stub