''Pristerognathus'' 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 living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

therocephalia Therocephalia is an extinct suborder of eutheriodont therapsids (mammals and their close relatives) from the Permian and Triassic. The therocephalians ("beast-heads") are named after their large skulls, which, along with the structure of thei ...

n, known from the late Middle

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 Paleo ...

(

Capitanian In the geologic timescale, the Capitanian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is also the uppermost or latest of three subdivisions of the Guadalupian Epoch or Series. The Capitanian lasted between and million years ago. It was preceded by ...

) of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

.F. Abdala, B. Rubidge, and J. van der Heever, "The oldest therocephalians (Therapsida, Eutheriodonta) and the early diversification of Therapsida," ''Palaeontology'', 51, 1011-1024 (2008) It lends its name to the

Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone The ''Pristerognathus'' Assemblage Zone is a tetrapod assemblage zone or biozone which correlates to the upper Abrahamskraal Formation and lowermost Teekloof Formation, Adelaide Subgroup of the Beaufort Group, a fossiliferous and geologically i ...

of the

Beaufort Group The Beaufort Group is the third of the main subdivisions of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. It is composed of a lower Adelaide Subgroup and an upper Tarkastad Subgroup. It follows conformably after the Ecca Group and unconformably underli ...

of South African geological strata. ''Pristerognathus'' was a medium-sized therocephalian with a skull and a total length up to . These animals were roughly dog-sized, and are characterized by long, narrow skulls with large canines. They are likely to have lived in woodlands, and preyed on smaller

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 ...

s and millerettids of the time. ''Pristerognathus'' was described in 1895 by Harry Seeley who named 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 specim ...

''Pristerognathus polyodon''. Many other species were named in the years following, such as ''P. baini'', ''P. minor'', and ''P. vanderbyli'', however, they have all since been recognised as referable to other species (such as ''

Glanosuchus ''Glanosuchus'' is a genus of scylacosaurid therocephalian from the Late Permian of South Africa. The type species ''G. macrops'' was named by Robert Broom in 1904. ''Glanosuchus'' had a middle ear structure that was intermediate between that of ...

'' and ''

Pristerognathoides ''Glanosuchus'' is a genus of scylacosaurid therocephalian from the Late Permian of South Africa. The type species ''G. macrops'' was named by Robert Broom in 1904. ''Glanosuchus'' had a middle ear structure that was intermediate between that of ...

'') are too dubious to determine. As such, ''P. polyodon'' is the only definitive species of ''Pristerognathus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q139301 Guadalupian synapsids Scylacosaurids Guadalupian synapsids of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1895 Taxa named by Harry Seeley Guadalupian genus first appearances Guadalupian genus extinctions

See also

References