''Sekhmetops'' (meaning "

Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis , from ; ) is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of medicine. Sekhmet is also a solar deity, sometimes given the epithet "the Eye of Ra, eye of Ra". She is often associated with the goddesses Hatho ...

face") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus of carnivorous hyaenodont mammals from the

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two age (geology), ages or the lower of two stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Oligocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded b ...

Jebel Qatrani Formation The Jebel Qatrani Formation (also Gebel Qatrani, Gabal Qatrani or Djebel Qatrani) is a geologic formation located in the Faiyum Governorate of central Egypt. It is exposed between the Jebel Qatrani escarpment and the Qasr el Sagha escarpment, nor ...

of Egypt. The genus contains two species, ''S. africanus'' and ''S. phiomensis'', both of which were originally assigned to the genus '' Pterodon''.

Discovery and naming

In 1903, British paleontologist Charles W. Andrews participated in an expedition to Fayûm, Egypt, during which several new vertebrate fossils were collected. Later that year, he published a brief note describing these specimens. He classified one of these, a partial right jaw bone (specimen

NHMUK The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and ...

M8503), as a new species of the genus ''Pterodon'', noting how its large size distinguished it from the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

of this genus. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, '' africanus'', is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

adjective meaning "from Africa". In a 1906 book, Andrews described and figured the specimen in more depth. He also provisionally referred a left

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

and right

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

to this species. In 1909, American paleontologist

Henry Fairfield Osborn Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. (August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist, geologist and eugenics advocate. He was professor of anatomy at Columbia University, president of the American Museum of Natural History for 25 y ...

described another species of ''Pterodon'', ''P. phiomensis'', based on the holotype (

AMNH The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interco ...

13253), a nearly complete left lower jaw. He also referred a second comparable lower jaw, AMNH 13254. Osborn described this species as about two-thirds the size of ''P. africanus'', with a more slender jaw morphology. The specific name, ''phiomensis'', is derived from the ''phiom''—the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word for Fayûm, meaning "lake"—referencing the type locality. In 2025, Al-Ashqar et al. revised the record of African species assigned to ''Pterodon'', a historic

wastebasket taxon Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by e ...

. As in previous analyses, they observed that the species referred to this genus form a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

assemblage. As such, they established a new genus, ''Sekhmetops'', for "''P.''" ''africanus'' and "''P.''" ''phiomensis''. The generic name combines a reference to

—a lion-headed goddess from

Ancient Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptia ...

associated with pestilence and war—with the Greek suffix "''-ops''", meaning "face". The authors' intended translation is "having the face of the lion-headed goddess". Arsinoitherium attacked by two Pterodon

Classification

Using an expanded matrix from previous

phylogenetic analyses In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organ ...

, Al-Ashqar et al. recovered "''P.''" ''africanus'' and "''P.''" ''phiomensis'' as

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

within the

hyaenodonta Hyaenodonta (" hyena teeth") is an extinct order of hypercarnivorous placental mammals of clade Pan-Carnivora from mirorder Ferae. Hyaenodonts were important mammalian predators that arose during the early Paleocene in Europe and persisted w ...

n subfamily

Hyainailourinae Hyainailourinae ("hyena-like Felidae, cats") is a Paraphyly, paraphyletic subfamily of Hyaenodonta, hyaenodonts from extinct paraphyletic family Hyainailouridae. They arose during the Bartonian, Middle Eocene in Africa, and persisted well into th ...

. Their results are displayed in the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below:

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q132505881, from2=Q132505894, from3=Q132505904 Hyaenodonts Oligocene mammals of Africa Rupelian genera Prehistoric placental genera Paleontology in Egypt Fossil taxa described in 2025