Lycaenops

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Guadalupian (Capitanian), {{fossilrange|260}}

| image = Lycaenops AMNH.jpg

| image_caption = L. ornatus skeleton, American Museum of Natural History

| taxon = Lycaenops

| authority = Broom, 1925

| type_species = Lycaenops ornatus

| type_species_authority = Broom, 1925

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = {{bold species list

| {{extinct}}L. ornatus|Broom, 1925

| {{extinct}}L. angusticeps|Broom, 1913

| {{extinct}}L. microdon|Boonstra, 1934

| {{extinct}}L. sollasi|Broili and Schröder, 1935

}}

| synonyms = * Lycaenoides
Broom, 1925

Aelurognathus microdon
Boonstra, 1934
Aelurognathus sollasi
Broili and Schröder, 1935
Scymnognathus angusticeps
Broom, 1913

}}

Lycaenops ("wolf-face") is a genus of carnivorous therapsids. It lived during the Middle Permian to the early Late Permian, about 260 mya, in what is now South Africa.{{Cite journal |last=Colbert |first=Edwin H. |date=1948 |title=The mammal-like reptile Lycaenops |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=89 |issue=6 |pages=353-404}}

Description

File:Lycaenops ornatus (2).jpg

File:Lycaenops life restoration.jpg

Like the modern-day wolves from which it took its name, Lycaenops had a long and slender skull, with dog-like fangs set into its upper and lower jaws.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 189|isbn= 1-84028-152-9}} These pointed canine teeth were ideal for stabbing and/or tearing at the flesh of any large prey that it came upon. Lycaenops most likely hunted small vertebrates such as reptiles and dicynodonts.

Lycaenops walked and ran with its long legs held close to its body. This feature is found in mammals but not in more primitive amniotes, early reptiles, and synapsids such as pelycosaurs, whose legs are positioned to the sides of their bodies. The ability to move like a mammal would have given Lycaenops an advantage over other land vertebrates since it would have been able to outrun them.

Species

File:Lycaenops ornatus 1.JPG]]

The type species Lycaenops ornatus was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1925.{{Cite journal |last=Broom |first=Robert |date=1925 |title=On some carnivorous therapsids |journal=Records of the Albany Museum |volume=25 |pages=309-326}}

Several other species have also been referred to the genus, including L. angusticeps, which was originally named Scymnognathus angusticeps. It is currently considered a valid taxon.{{Cite journal |last=Laurin |first=Michel |date=1998-12-28 |title=New data on the cranial anatomy ofLycaenops(Synapsida, Gorgonopsidae), and reflections on the possible presence of streptostyly in gorgonopsians |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011105 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=765–776 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1998.10011105 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

Several other specimens have been referred to as Lycaenops but are no longer included within this genus. This includes:

L. kingwilli, which was originally named Tigricephalus kingwilli, is now placed in the genus Aelurognathus.
L. tenuirostris, which was originally named Tangagorgon tenuirostris, is now in the genus Cyonosaurus.
Two additional species, L. microdon and L. sollasi, were added to Lycaenops after being classified as Aelurognathus species. The species L. minor is now considered a synonym of L. sollasi.{{Cite thesis |degree=Ph.D. |title=Phylogeny and evolution of the Gorgonopsia with a special reference to the skull and skeleton of GPIT/RE/7113 ('Aelurognathus?' parringtoni) |url=http://tobias-lib.uni-tuebingen.de/volltexte/2007/2935/pdf/Eva_Gebauer.pdf |last=Gebauer |first=E.V.I. |year=2007 |publisher=Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen |location=Tübingen |pages=1-316}}