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''Smilesaurus'' is an extinct
Below is a cladogram of Gorgonopsia from Bendel ''et al.'' 2018:
The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
Gorgonopsia Prehistoric therapsid genera Fossil taxa described in 1948 Taxa named by Robert Broom {{paleo-therapsid-stub
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 n ...
of gorgonopsian
Gorgonopsia (from the Greek Gorgon, a mythological beast, and 'aspect') is an extinct clade of Saber-toothed predator, sabre-toothed therapsids from the Middle Permian, Middle to Upper Permian roughly 265 to 252 million years ago. They are chara ...
known from Africa. It lived during the Late Permian
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
. It contains the single species ''S. ferox''.
Description
''Smilesaurus'' was a large gorgonopsian, with a skull length of up to 31 centimeters. It is characterized by extremely long canine teeth, and has the proportionally longest canines of any gorgonopsian. Unlike other gorgonopsians, which probably hunted similarly to predatory reptiles, ''Smilesaurus'' probably was a true saber-toothed predator which hunted using similar tactics tosaber-toothed cat
Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until ...
s. It can be distinguished by other rubidgeines by its lack of cranial pachyostosis and rugosoties, and by its relatively small orbits.
Classification
The classification of ''Smilesaurus'' has been disputed. It has often been included inRubidgeinae
Rubidgeinae is an extinct subfamily of gorgonopsid therapsids known only from Africa. They were among the largest gorgonopsians, and their fossils are common in the Cistecephalus and Daptocephalus assemblage zones of the Karoo Basin. They liv ...
, but it differs from other members of the clade considerably. Instead, it may be more closely related to ''Arctops
''Arctops'' ("Bear face") is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids known from the Late Permian of South Africa. It measured up to in length and its skull was long. The type species is ''Arctops willistoni''. A second species
In biol ...
'', a position supported by a phylogenetic analysis in 2018.
Below is a cladogram of Gorgonopsia from Bendel ''et al.'' 2018:
See also
*List of therapsids
This list of therapsids is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the Therapsida excluding mammals and purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera tha ...
References
The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
Gorgonopsia Prehistoric therapsid genera Fossil taxa described in 1948 Taxa named by Robert Broom {{paleo-therapsid-stub