Pristerognathus

---

title: "Pristerognathus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["guadalupian-synapsids", "scylacosauridae", "guadalupian-synapsids-of-africa", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1895", "taxa-named-by-harry-seeley", "guadalupian-genus-first-appearances", "guadalupian-genus-extinctions"] description: "Extinct genus of therapsid from the Middle Permian of South Africa" topic_path: "general/guadalupian-synapsids" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pristerognathus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of therapsid from the Middle Permian of South Africa ::

| fossil_range = Middle Permian | image = Specimens of Pristerognathus.jpg | image_caption = Skulls in side view, including that of the holotype (B) | genus = Pristerognathus | parent_authority = Seeley, 1895 | species = polyodon | authority = Seeley, 1895 | synonyms_ref = | synonyms = |Pristerognathoides Boonstra, 1954 |Alopecognathus minor Haughton, 1918 |Pristerognathus peyeri Broili & Schröder, 1936 |Pristerognathoides minor Boonstra, 1954 |Pristerognathoides parvus Boonstra, 1954

Pristerognathus is an extinct genus of therocephalian, known from the late Middle Permian (Capitanian) of South Africa. It lends its name to the now defunct Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group of South African geological strata (now mostly equivalent to the lower Endothiodon Assemblage Zone). Pristerognathus was a medium-sized therocephalian with a 25 cm skull and a total length up to 1.5 m. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Pristerognathus_minor.jpg" caption="Skull in [[Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin"] ::

These animals were roughly dog-sized, and are characterized by long, narrow skulls with large canines. They are likely to have lived in woodlands, and preyed on smaller therapsids and millerettids of the time.

Pristerognathus was described in 1895 by Harry Seeley who named the type species Pristerognathus polyodon. Many other species were named in the years following, such as P. baini, P. minor, and P. vanderbyli, however, they have all since been recognised as referable to other species (such as Glanosuchus and Pristerognathoides) or are too dubious to determine. As such, P. polyodon is the only definitive species of Pristerognathus.

References

References

1. (2023). "Revision of the Scylacosauridae (Therapsida: Therocephalia)". Palaeontologia africana.
2. (2008). "The oldest therocephalians (Therapsida, Eutheriodonta) and the early diversification of Therapsida". Palaeontology.
3. (2020). "Biostratigraphy of the ''Endothiodon'' Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa". South African Journal of Geology.
4. Stainford Kemp, Thomas(2005) ''The origin and evolution of mammals'' p.55
5. "Meet the Mammal-Like Reptiles of the Paleozoic Era".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::