''Moschognathus'' 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 of dinocephalian therapsid in the family Tapinocephalidae. The genus includes only the type species ''M. whaitsi'', named by palaeontologist Robert Broom in 1914. It was a short-snouted tapinocephalid, closely related to and resembling the well-known genus '' Moschops'', but its skull is less thickened overall has a relatively longer and shallower snout by comparison. Indeed, ''Moschognathus'' has typically been regarded as a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

of ''Moschops'' (e.g. by King, 1988 and Atayman ''et al''., 2009) since 1969 after

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 ...

sunk ''Moschognathus'' into ''Moschops'', albeit retained as its own doubtfully valid species. However, researchers in the 21st century have expressed doubt over this synonymy and suggested that ''Moschognathus'' is a distinct taxon after all, including first by Christian Kammerer in a 2009

Ph.D. thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

and formally in 2015 by Alessandra D. S. Boos and colleagues (including Kammerer) in 2015. ''Moschognathus'' has since began to re-enter scientific literature of dinocephalians as a valid name and treated distinct from ''Moschops''. Anteosaurus & Moschognathus

The holotype specimen, AMNH FARB 5602, is a partial skeleton including the upper jaw tips, mandibles, vertebrae (including a complete cervical series from the neck), ribs, and the right pelvis and femur. In addition to the holotype specimen, a complete skull and mandibles have tentatively been assigned to ''Moschognathus''. This specimen, AM 4950, was initially identified as a juvenile '' Anteosaurus'' prior to preparation, but was subsequently identified as a subadult ''Moschops'' by Julien Benoit and colleagues in 2016 and again in 2017. This skull was argued to belong instead to ''Moschognathus'' in a Ph.D. thesis by Saniye Neumann, and this proposal was formally adopted in subsequent literature.

References

Tapinocephalians Prehistoric therapsid genera Guadalupian synapsids of Africa Permian South Africa Fossils of South Africa Fossil taxa described in 1914 Taxa named by Robert Broom {{Paleo-therapsid-stub