Arctops
Extinct genus of therapsids
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Arctops ("bear face") is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids known from the Late Permian of South and Eastern Africa. It measured up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in length and its skull was 30 centimetres (12 in) long.[1] The type species is Arctops willistoni, named from a poorly prepared and incomplete skull. A second species was named A. watsoni based on a complete skull in 1953, followed by a third in 1970, A. kitchingi, from a smaller, juvenile skull.[2] Both were formally synonymized with A. willistoni by Christian Kammerer in 2017.[3] An additional species, A. umulunshi, was described in 2025 from the Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia, named after the indigenous Icibemba word for "hunter".[4]
| Arctops Temporal range: Late Permian | |
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| Artist's interpretation of A. willistoni | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Gorgonopsia |
| Family: | †Gorgonopsidae |
| Genus: | †Arctops Watson, 1914 |
| Type species | |
| Arctops willistoni Watson, 1914 | |
| Other species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Synonyms of A. willistoni: | |
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