Lumkuia

Lumkuia is an extinct genus of cynodonts, fossils of which have been found in the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group in the South African Karoo Basin that date back to the early Middle Triassic. It contains a single species, Lumkuia fuzzi, which was named in 2001 on the basis of the holotype specimen BP/1/2669, which can now be found at the Bernard Price Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa. The genus has been placed in its own family, Lumkuiidae. "Lumkuia" is not as common as other cynodonts from the same locality such as "Diademodon" and "Trirachodon".
Description.
The postcanines are similar to those of the later chiniquodontids, but the secondary palate is quite short in comparison, and the genus lacks the angulation of the ventral cranial margin seen in chiniquodontids. "Lumkuia" can be seen as more derived than other contemporary cynodonts such as "Cynognathus" with the crowns of its teeth high and narrow and having inwardly curving tops.
Classification.
"Lumkuia" was first described in 2001 by the palaeontologists James A. Hopson and James W. Kitching, who considered it to be the most basal member of Probainognathia. This placement has been supported by several later studies, though others alternatively place it outside the clade formed by Cynognathia and Probainognathia. Previously, early probainognathians were only known from younger strata in South America that were deposited in the late Middle and Late Triassic.