Polycynodon

{{short description|Extinct genus of therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Polycynodon

| fossil_range = Late Permian

| authority = Broom and Robinson, 1948

| type_species = {{extinct}}Polycynodon elegans

| type_species_authority = (Broom, 1940) (originally Octocynodon elegans)

}}

Polycynodon is an extinct genus of therocephalians from the Late Permian of South Africa. It is known from the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone.{{cite journal |last=Nicolas |first=M. |author2=Rubidge, B.S. |year=2010 |title=Changes in Permo-Triassic terrestrial tetrapod ecological representation in the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup) of South Africa |journal=Lethaia |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=45–59 |doi=10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00171.x}} The type species was first described as Octocynodon elegans by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1940, but the name Octocynodon was preoccupied by a genus of labrid fish first described in 1904.{{cite web |url=http://data.gbif.org/species/3238039 |title=Genus: Octocynodon Fowler, 1904 |work=Global Biodiversity Information Facility |publisher=GBIF |access-date=18 February 2012}} Along with John T. Robinson, Broom instated Polycynodon as a replacement name for O. elegans in 1948. Polycynodon is classified in Baurioidea, although its relationship to other baurioid therocephalians is uncertain.{{cite journal |last=Watson |first=D.M.S. |author2=Romer, A.S. |year=1956 |title=A classification of therapsid reptiles |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology |volume=114 |issue=2 |pages=37–89 |url=https://archive.org/stream/cbarchive_48222_1956aclassificationoftherapsid1863/1956aclassificationoftherapsid1863#page/n41/mode/2up}}