page_title: Therocephalia
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Therocephalia / Classification / Taxonomy
caption_attribution_description: Lycosuchus
context_page_description: Therocephalia is an extinct suborder of eutheriodont therapsids from the Permian and Triassic. The therocephalians are named after their large skulls, which, along with the structure of their teeth, suggest that they were carnivores. Like other non-mammalian synapsids, therocephalians were once described as "mammal-like reptiles". Therocephalia is the group most closely related to the cynodonts, which gave rise to the mammals. This relationship takes evidence in a variety of skeletal features. The phylogeny of therocephalians has been disputed, as the monophyly of the group and the relationships of its members are unclear.
  The fossils of therocephalians are numerous in the Karoo of South Africa, but have also been found in Russia, China, and Antarctica. Early therocephalian fossils discovered in Middle Permian deposits of South Africa support a Gondwanan origin for the group, which seems to have spread quickly throughout the world. Although almost every therocephalian lineage ended during the great Permian–Triassic extinction event, a few representatives of the subgroup called Eutherocephalia survived into the Early Triassic.
context_section_description: Some previously recognized therocephalian clades have turned out to be artificial. For example, the Scaloposauridae were classified based on fossils with mostly juvenile characteristics, but probably represent immature specimens from other known therocephalian families.
  On the other hand, the aberrant therocephalian family Lycosuchidae, once identified by the presence of multiple caniniform teeth, was thought to represent an unnatural group based on a study of canine replacement in that group (van den Heever, 1980). However, subsequent analysis has exposed additional synapomorphies supporting the monophyly of this group, and Lycosuchidae is currently considered the most basal clade within a monophyletic Therocephalia (van den Heever, 1994).
  Order Therapsida
  Suborder Therocephalia
  Crapartinella
  Gorynychus
  Theriodesmus
  Family Lycosuchidae
  Clade Scylacosauria
  Family Scylacosauridae
  Family Trochosuchidae
  Infraorder Eutherocephalia
caption: Lycosuchus head reconstruction
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