page_title: Cynognathus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Cynognathus / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Life reconstruction of Cynognathus crateronotus
context_page_description: Cynognathus is an extinct genus of large-bodied cynodontian therapsids that lived in the Middle Triassic. It is known from a single species, Cynognathus crateronotus. Cynognathus was a 1.2-metre long predator closely related to mammals and had a southern hemispheric distribution. Fossils have so far been recovered from South Africa, Argentina, Antarctica, and Namibia.
context_section_description: Cynognathus was a heavily built animal, and measured around 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) in snout-to-vent body length. It had a particularly large head, up to 40 centimetres (1 ft) in length, with wide jaws and sharp teeth. Its hindlimbs were placed directly beneath the body, but the forelimbs sprawled outwards in a more reptilian fashion. This form of double (erect/sprawling) gait is also found in some primitive mammals alive today.
  Possible autapomorphies of C. crateronotus include an extremely elongated postorbital bar and sectorial postcanine teeth with two serrated cusps distal to a recurved apex.
caption: Life reconstruction of Cynognathus crateronotus
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