''Syops'' is an extinct genus of

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivorous animals with a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typicall ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

''S. vanhoepeni'' was first named in 1938 as ''

Dicynodon ''Dicynodon'' ("two dog-teeth") is a genus of dicynodont therapsid that flourished during the Upper Permian period. Like all dicynodonts, it was herbivorous animal. This reptile was toothless, except for prominent tusks, hence the name. It probab ...

vanhoepeni''. Fossils of the genus have been found in the ''Cistecephalus'' Assemblage Zone 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 ...

of the Ruhuhu Basin,

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 Madumabisa Mudstone,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

.''Syops''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org Its phylogenetic placement is somewhat uncertain, with multiple different studies finding it as either a basal geikiid,

rhachiocephalid Rhachiocephalidae is an extinct family of dicynodont therapsids. It includes two genera from the Late Permian of southern Africa, ''Rhachiocephalus'' and ''Kitchinganomodon''. Rhachiocephalids were the largest dicynodonts in the Permian, although ...

dicynodontoid Dicynodontoidea is an infraorder of dicynodont therapsids that includes the famous dicynodont ''Dicynodon'', ''Lystrosaurus'' and the Triassic Kannemeyeriiformes, as well as numerous other closely related species. The name was coined by American ...

more derived than the most basal genera but less derived than

Lystrosauridae Lystrosauridae is a family of dicynodont therapsids from the Permian and Triassic time periods. It includes two genera, ''Lystrosaurus'' and '' Kwazulusaurus''. ''Kwazulusaurus'' includes a single species, ''K. shakai'', from the Late Permian of ...

, or a

lystrosaurid Lystrosauridae is a family of dicynodont therapsids from the Permian and Triassic time periods. It includes two genera, ''Lystrosaurus'' and '' Kwazulusaurus''. ''Kwazulusaurus'' includes a single species, ''K. shakai'', from the Late Permian of ...

References

Dicynodonts Lopingian synapsids of Africa Fossils of Tanzania Fossils of Zambia Fossil taxa described in 2011 Anomodont genera {{anomodont-stub