- Lycaenops
Taxobox
name = "Lycaenops"
fossil_range = late Middle Permian to early LatePermian
image_width = 225px
regnum =Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis =Synapsid a
ordo =Therapsid a
subordo =Gorgonopsia
familia =Gorgonopsidae
genus = "Lycaenops"
subdivision_ranks =Species
subdivision = "L. angusticeps""L. ornatus" "L. kingwilli""Lycaenops" ("Wolf-Face") is a
genus of carnivoroustherapsid (mammal -like "reptile"). It measured about 1 meter (3 feet) long and lived during the late mid-Permian to the early Late Permian in what is nowSouth Africa . Like the modern-day wolves from which it takes its name, "Lycaenops" bore a long and slender skull, with a set of dog-like fangs set into both its upper and lowerjaw s. These pointed canine teeth were ideal for the use of stabbing and/or tearing at the flesh of any largeprey that it came upon. This species most likely hunted smallvertebrates such asreptiles , smallpelycosaurs , anddicynodont s such as "Robertia " and "Cistecephalus ", as well as larger dicynodonts. "Lycaenops" walked and ran with its long legs held close to its body. This is a feature found inmammals , but not in more primitiveamniotes andsynapsid s, such as thepelycosaurs and earlyreptiles whose legs are positioned to the sides of their bodies. The ability to move like amammal would have given "Lycaenops" an advantage over other landvertebrates , since it would have been able to out-run them.ee also
* "
Gorgonops "
*Evolution of mammals
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