Lycosuchus

Lycosuchus Temporal range: Middle-Late Permian (Capitanian-Wuchiapingian), ~260–258 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Lycosuchus vanderrieti skull (MB.R.995) at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	†Therocephalia
Family:	†Lycosuchidae
Genus:	†Lycosuchus Broom, 1903
Species:	†L. vanderrieti
Binomial name
†Lycosuchus vanderrieti Broom, 1903

Lycosuchus ("wolf crocodile") is an extinct genus of carnivorous therocephalian from the Karoo Basin of South Africa that lived roughly 260—258 million years ago, straddling the boundary of the Middle Permian and Late Permian. As a member of the Lycosuchidae, the genus represents one of the earliest diverging therocephalians. The type and only species, L. vanderrieti, is known from a handful of well-preserved specimens preserving the cranium and lower jaw; the holotype US D173 itself, housed at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, is a near complete occluded skull and jaws.^[1]: 322 Specimen MB.R. 995, housed at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany, consists of a near complete and isolated lower jaw, along with a partial snout and brain case.^[2] With the help of μCT data, Pusch et al (2020) ^[2] described the endocranial anatomy of Lycosuchus vanderrieti. It was a medium-sized predator, reaching 1.2 m (3.8 ft) in length with a skull 23 cm long,^[3] typical of early therocephalians. L. vanderrieti bore two functional canines in each maxilla, possibly due to a protracted tooth replacement.^[2] Both the upper canines and the single canine of the lower jaw are serrated.

Discovered in South Africa, it was named by paleontologist Robert Broom in 1903 and later assigned by him to Therocephalia.