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Description
A speculative reconstruction of late Permian therapsids Lycaenops and Herpetoskylax, two animals that lived in the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of Karoo after the dinocephalians went extinct.

Lycaenops was a gorgonopsian, just like the Russian genus Inostrancevia. However, it was only as large as a medium-sized dog. Despite their superficially doglike shape, I interpret Lycaenops and it's kin as being more analogous to felids in terms of lifestyle, stalking prey in thick brush before pouncing and killing with their sharp canine teeth. The paleo-canid niche would be filled by different group of theriodonts, the scylacosaurid therocephalians. Lycaenops are not pack hunters per se, but I'd like to think that they often live in pairs, usually composed of either siblings or a mated pair. They normally hunt vertebrates ranging from small to as large as themselves, such as skittish reptiles and small dicynodonts.

Herpetoskylax is a much more primitive genus of therapsid, and is a late-surviving member of the basal clade Biarmosuchia. As such, they have many bizarre traits, making them to Lycaenops like a platypus is to a dog. Unlike it's more evolved gorgonopsian neighbors, Herpetoskylax was probably a cold-blooded animal with a slow, reptilian metabolism. It probably had glandular skin, but didn't have proper body hair. shared a theory with me regarding the evolution of hair. According to his theory, hair would first evolve in biarmosuchians in the form of rigid keratinous spines that serve as protection. As more advanced therapsids began to evolve, these spines became smaller and more frequent, eventually evolving into the insulating pelts seen in neotherapsids and possibly some dinocephalians. I liked the theory, so I decided to apply it to Herpetoskylax as a speculative feature. The spines of Herpetoskylax serve as protective, aposematic quills like those of modern porcupines. Each quill is barbed at the tip, and is released upon contact with a threat, leaving any attackers with a painful mess of spikes slowly digging into their flesh. The quills that surround the scaly tail are especially painful, being smaller, more frequent, and can be used directly for attack via a powerful tail swing. Herpetoskylax is just a little smaller than Lycaenops, and to me it seems to fit a very similar niche. However it's jaws were very weak and thin, so it was probably restricted to only small reptile prey. However, it often will try to savor a few bites from the kills of its Lycan neighbors.

Here, two Lycaenops brothers are feeding on the carcass of a Cistecephalus, a genus of tuskless mole-like dicynodonts native to the region. The corpse is infested with carnivorous antlike termites, but the brothers don't seem to mind. A Herpetoskylax sow approaches them to join in. Thankfully, the Lycaenops do not see her as a threat, and wouldn't mind sharing some of their kill with her.

Description
A speculative reconstruction of late Permian therapsids Lycaenops and Herpetoskylax, two animals that lived in the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of Karoo after the dinocephalians went extinct.

Lycaenops was a gorgonopsian, just like the Russian genus Inostrancevia. However, it was only as large as a medium-sized dog. Despite their superficially doglike shape, I interpret Lycaenops and it's kin as being more analogous to felids in terms of lifestyle, stalking prey in thick brush before pouncing and killing with their sharp canine teeth. The paleo-canid niche would be filled by different group of theriodonts, the scylacosaurid therocephalians. Lycaenops are not pack hunters per se, but I'd like to think that they often live in pairs, usually composed of either siblings or a mated pair. They normally hunt vertebrates ranging from small to as large as themselves, such as skittish reptiles and small dicynodonts.

Herpetoskylax is a much more primitive genus of therapsid, and is a late-surviving member of the basal clade Biarmosuchia. As such, they have many bizarre traits, making them to Lycaenops like a platypus is to a dog. Unlike it's more evolved gorgonopsian neighbors, Herpetoskylax was probably a cold-blooded animal with a slow, reptilian metabolism. It probably had glandular skin, but didn't have proper body hair. shared a theory with me regarding the evolution of hair. According to his theory, hair would first evolve in biarmosuchians in the form of rigid keratinous spines that serve as protection. As more advanced therapsids began to evolve, these spines became smaller and more frequent, eventually evolving into the insulating pelts seen in neotherapsids and possibly some dinocephalians. I liked the theory, so I decided to apply it to Herpetoskylax as a speculative feature. The spines of Herpetoskylax serve as protective, aposematic quills like those of modern porcupines. Each quill is barbed at the tip, and is released upon contact with a threat, leaving any attackers with a painful mess of spikes slowly digging into their flesh. The quills that surround the scaly tail are especially painful, being smaller, more frequent, and can be used directly for attack via a powerful tail swing. Herpetoskylax is just a little smaller than Lycaenops, and to me it seems to fit a very similar niche. However it's jaws were very weak and thin, so it was probably restricted to only small reptile prey. However, it often will try to savor a few bites from the kills of its Lycan neighbors.

Here, two Lycaenops brothers are feeding on the carcass of a Cistecephalus, a genus of tuskless mole-like dicynodonts native to the region. The corpse is infested with carnivorous antlike termites, but the brothers don't seem to mind. A Herpetoskylax sow approaches them to join in. Thankfully, the Lycaenops do not see her as a threat, and wouldn't mind sharing some of their kill with her.