Pelictosuchus

Pelictosuchus is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa. It is classified in the family Akidnognathidae. The type species Pelictosuchus paucidens was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1940 from the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone.[1]

Pelictosuchus
Temporal range: Late Permian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Therocephalia
Family: †Akidnognathidae
Genus: †Pelictosuchus
Broom, 1940
Type species
†Pelictosuchus paucidens
Broom, 1940

Pelictosuchus was once classified in the family Nanictidopidae. Pelictosuchus and other therocephalians traditionally classified as nanictidopids have thin postorbital bars forming the back margins of the eye sockets and parietal bones that form a low sagittal crest at the top of the skull. They were thought to be closely related to another family of therocephalians called Scaloposauridae, although they differed from scaloposaurids in having higher, narrower skulls.[2] Pelictosuchus is no longer classified as a nanictidopid, and is instead considered a member of Akidnognathidae.[3]

References
  1. Nicolas, M.; Rubidge, B.S. (2010). "Changes in Permo-Triassic terrestrial tetrapod ecological representation in the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup) of South Africa". Lethaia. 43 (1): 45–59. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00171.x.
  2. Watson, D.M.S.; Romer, A.S. (1956). "A classification of therapsid reptiles". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 114 (2): 37–89.
  3. Botha-Brink, J.; Modesto, S. P. (2011). "A new skeleton of the Therocephalian synapsid Olivierosuchus parringtoni from the Lower Triassic South African Karoo Basin". Palaeontology. 54 (3): 591–606. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01048.x.
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