Gorynychus
| Gorynychus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Skull of holotype in right lateral view | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Therocephalia |
| Genus: | †Gorynychus Kammerer & Masyutin, 2018 |
| Type species | |
| Gorynychus masyutinae Kammerer & Masyutin, 2018
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Gorynychus is a genus of therapsid from the mid-Permian from Kotelnich, Russia. The genus is monospecific, containing the single species G. masyutinae. It was named after the three-headed dragon Zmey Gorynych (Змей Горыныч) from Russian mythology.[1][2]
Description
The species, only known from its holotype, was wolf-sized and appears to have represented the largest predator in the Kotelnich fauna. Like many theriodonts, it had strongly developed and prominent canine teeth.[1]
Paleoecology
The discovery of such a large therocephalian as the apex predator of its environment coupled with the discovery of a smaller gorgonopsid, the smaller and nocturnal Nochnitsa, in the same formation indicates that a faunal turnover was occurring at the time, with therocephalians taking over the gorgonopsians' role as the dominant predators in their environment.[2]
References
- ^ a b Kammerer, CF; Masyutin, V. (2018). "A new therocephalian (Gorynychus masyutinae gen. et sp. nov.) from the Permian Kotelnich locality, Kirov Region, Russia". PeerJ. 6: e4933. doi:10.7717/peerj.4933.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (June 8, 2018). "'Monstrous' new Russian saber-tooth fossils clarify early evolution of mammal lineage". ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
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