''Sauroctonus'' (from el, σαῦρος , 'lizard' and el, κτόνος , 'murderer') is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

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 ...

therapsids 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 mor ...

. ''Sauroctonus progressus'' was a large (2 m long)

gorgonopsid Gorgonopsia (from the Greek Gorgon, a mythological beast, and 'aspect') is an extinct clade of sabre-toothed therapsids from the Middle to Upper Permian roughly 265 to 252 million years ago. They are characterised by a long and narrow skull ...

that lived in the Late

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

epoch before the Permian-Triassic extinction event that wiped out many life forms on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

(259-254 million years ago). Its fossils have been found in the

Usili Formation The Usili Formation is a Late Permian geologic formation in Tanzania. It preserves fossils of many terrestrial vertebrates from the Permian, including temnospondyls, pareiasaurs, therapsids and the archosauromorph ''Aenigmastropheus''. History ...

( Songea Group) of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and the Sokolki Assemblage Zone of the

Volga Basin The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchmen ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Description

''Sauroctonus's'' flattened, triangular skull was about long, with a

parietal eye A parietal eye, also known as a third eye or pineal eye, is a part of the epithalamus present in some vertebrates. The eye is located at the top of the head, is photoreceptive and is associated with the pineal gland, regulating circadian rhythm ...

, a primitive character, on the crown. The upper and lower jaw each contained one pair of massive

canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened howeve ...

(the upper pair was larger); the other teeth were smaller, but were also sharp and pointed. In addition, minute, blunt teeth were present on the

palatine bone In anatomy, the palatine bones () are two irregular bones of the facial skeleton in many animal species, located above the uvula in the throat. Together with the maxillae, they comprise the hard palate. (''Palate'' is derived from the Latin ''pa ...

s. The lower jaw was widened to form a kind of chin. The long, lightly built, five-toed limbs bore a resemblance to

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s' limbs, but despite its 'mammalian' characteristics, ''Sauroctonus'' was not one of the ancestors of mammals. Based on its cranial and skeletal features, ''Sauroctonus'' was not as specialized as other gorgonopsids such as ''

Rubidgea ''Rubidgea'' is a genus of Gorgonopsia, gorgonopsid from the upper Permian of South Africa and Tanzania, containing the species ''Rubidgea atrox''. The generic name ''Rubidgea'' is sometimes believed to be derived from the surname of renowned Kar ...

'' or ''

Inostrancevia ''Inostrancevia'' is an extinct genus of carnivorous therapsids, containing the largest members of gorgonopsians, predators characterized by long, saber-tooth-like canines. The various species inhabited European Russia during the Upper Tatarian ...

''.

Species

There are two recognized species of ''Sauroctonus'': ''S. progressus'' and ''S. parringtoni''.Gebauer E I, 2014. Re-assessment of the taxonomic position of the specimen GPIT/RE/7113 (Sauroctonus parringtoni comb. nov., Gorgonopsia). In: Kammerer C F, Angielczyk K D, Fröbisch J eds. Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida. Dordrecht: Springer. 185−207.

Gallery

Image:Sauroctonus parringtoni.jpg, ''Sauroctonus parringtoni'' Image:Sauroctonus.jpg, ''Sauroctonus progressus'' File:Sauroctonus1.jpg Image:Sauroctonus progressus09.jpg

References

External links

* http://tobias-lib.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/volltexte/2007/2935/pdf/Eva_Gebauer.pdf Gorgonopsia Prehistoric therapsid genera Lopingian synapsids of Africa Fossils of Tanzania Prehistoric synapsids of Europe Fossils of Russia Lopingian genus first appearances Lopingian genus extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1955 {{permian-animal-stub

Description

Species

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links