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Description
In terms of large permian land predators, most will be familiar with the pelycosaurians such as Dimetrodon, large gorgonopsids such as Inostrancevia and the gigantic dinocephalian predator Anteosaurus - but a very rarely known clade of permian predators are the somewhat mysterious lycosuchids, represented by only two or three taxa and a lot of undeterminated remains.
They´re the most basal therocephalians.

So far, lycosuchids have only been recovered from the middle-late permian Karoo and nowhere else, and only from the Pristerognathus and Tapinocephalus assemblage zones, with by far most remains from the latter.

Two species of Lycosuchus have been named: Lycosuchus vanderrieti and Lycosuchus mackayi. The latter is considered dubious. They reach a maximum skull length of 23 cm and the species is represented by 5 specimens confidently referred to it. Lycosuchus occurs throughout both assemblage zones.

Simorhinella baini is originally represented only by the miniscule holotype, a 2.2 cm long skull in an extremely early ontogenetic stage. The other Simorhinella specimen was later referred to the taxon. This referral is provisional because the holotype can not be compared very well with much older individuals, and was only done on the basis of few characteristics. It only occurs in the Tapinocephalus assemblage zone.
The adult specimen of Simorhinella baini has a 37 cm long skull, making it the size of a large dog. The specimen is not depicted here however....

The gigantic lycosuchid you see here is SAM-PK-9005, a large isolated snout known as ´Scymnosaurus major´. Kammerer considered this species undiagnostic and it is thus lycosuchidae incertae sedis.

Description
In terms of large permian land predators, most will be familiar with the pelycosaurians such as Dimetrodon, large gorgonopsids such as Inostrancevia and the gigantic dinocephalian predator Anteosaurus - but a very rarely known clade of permian predators are the somewhat mysterious lycosuchids, represented by only two or three taxa and a lot of undeterminated remains.
They´re the most basal therocephalians.

So far, lycosuchids have only been recovered from the middle-late permian Karoo and nowhere else, and only from the Pristerognathus and Tapinocephalus assemblage zones, with by far most remains from the latter.

Two species of Lycosuchus have been named: Lycosuchus vanderrieti and Lycosuchus mackayi. The latter is considered dubious. They reach a maximum skull length of 23 cm and the species is represented by 5 specimens confidently referred to it. Lycosuchus occurs throughout both assemblage zones.

Simorhinella baini is originally represented only by the miniscule holotype, a 2.2 cm long skull in an extremely early ontogenetic stage. The other Simorhinella specimen was later referred to the taxon. This referral is provisional because the holotype can not be compared very well with much older individuals, and was only done on the basis of few characteristics. It only occurs in the Tapinocephalus assemblage zone.
The adult specimen of Simorhinella baini has a 37 cm long skull, making it the size of a large dog. The specimen is not depicted here however....

The gigantic lycosuchid you see here is SAM-PK-9005, a large isolated snout known as ´Scymnosaurus major´. Kammerer considered this species undiagnostic and it is thus lycosuchidae incertae sedis.