Gorgonopsia

Gorgonopsia is an extinct group of predatory therapsids from the Permian Period. Its members had elongated canine teeth, and some were among the earliest saber-toothed land vertebrates.

Therapsida: A major group of synapsids that includes mammals and several extinct lineages. Gorgonopsians were therapsids, sharing this broader lineage’s distinctive skull and jaw traits.
Canine tooth: A pointed tooth positioned near the front of the mouth, used for gripping, piercing, or tearing. Gorgonopsians’ enlarged upper canines were their most conspicuous weapons.
Inostrancevia: A large gorgonopsian genus known from Late Permian deposits in Russia. Its enormous canines and robust skull illustrate the group’s largest known predators.
Dinocephalia: An extinct group of large therapsids that flourished during the Middle Permian. Dinocephalians were another dominant therapsid group, but they were not gorgonopsians.
Synapsida: The amniote lineage containing mammals and their extinct relatives, traditionally identified by a temporal opening in the skull. This broader lineage places gorgonopsians among the evolutionary relatives of mammals.
Heterodont dentition: A dentition with teeth of different shapes and functions. Different tooth types helped gorgonopsians grip and process prey.
Gorgonops torvus: A species of gorgonopsian known from the Late Permian of southern Africa. This species gives the group its name and is represented by important fossils.
Biarmosuchia: An early-diverging group of therapsids that lived during the Permian. Biarmosuchians help frame the early evolutionary diversity from which later therapsid lineages emerged.
Permian: A geologic period lasting from about 299 to 252 million years ago, before the Triassic. Gorgonopsians lived during this period, before the end-Permian mass extinction.
Carnivory: A mode of nutrition in which an organism obtains food by consuming animal tissues. Gorgonopsians were predators whose anatomy reflects a meat-based diet.

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