Aelurognathus
Name:
Aelurognathus.
Phonetic: Ay-lu-ro-nay-fus.
Named By: Sydney H. Haughton - 1924
(Orginally named Scymnognathus tigriceps by Robert
Broom and Sydney
H. Haughton in 1913).
Synonyms: Aelurognathus nyasaensis,
Aelurognathus serratidens, Dixeya, Gorgonorhinus, Leontocephalus,
Prorubidgea
maccabei,
Scymnognathus parringtoni, Scymnognathus tigriceps, Smilesaurus
ferox, Sycosaurus broodiei, Tigricephalus kingwilli .
Classification: Chordata, Therapsida,
Gorgonopsidae, Rubidgeinae.
Species: A. tigriceps
(type), A. alticeps, A. broodiei, A. ferox,
A. kingwilli, A. maccabei, A. quadrata.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Skulls about 30 centimetres long. Body
length estimated to be around 1.5 meters.
Known locations: South Africa, Karoo Basin.
Time period: Wuchiapingian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Remains of several
individuals.
A South African gorgonopsian predator, Aelurognathus is noted for having small incisor teeth, something that might means that it scraped flesh from bones rather than crunch on the bones directly. Additionally remains of a dicynodont thought to have been fed upon by an Aelurognathus show that it was pulled apart from the rear. This would have been a less bony area than the front, so again this may suggest that Aelurognathus scraped flesh from carcasses rather than crush them.
Further reading
- Some new Karroo reptiles from the Graaff-Reinet district. - Annals of
the Transvaal Museum 20:71-87. - R. Broom - 1940.
- Evidence of a therapsid scavenger in the Late Permian Karoo Basin,
South Africa, N. Fordyce, R. Smith & A Chinsamy -
2012.
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