Ictidodraco

Ictidodraco is an extinct animal that belonged to a group of reptiles called therocephalians.

Therocephalians were close relatives of mammals and lived during the Permian period, about 250 million years ago.

Ictidodraco is known for its long, narrow snout and large eyes.

It was a small carnivore that probably hunted insects and other small prey.

It had six incisors and a pair of canines in the upper jaw, and more cheek teeth than other therocephalians.

It also had a rudimentary secondary palate, a feature that allows breathing and chewing at the same time.

Ictidodraco was first described in 1948 by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson, who found its fossil skull in South Africa.

It is the only species in its genus and was once classified as a scaloposaurian, a group that is no longer recognized as valid.

Ictidodraco is now considered a basal member of the baurioids, a diverse and successful clade of therocephalians that survived until the end of the Permian.

Ictidodraco is an ancient beast
That lived in the Permian time
It was a small and slender therocephalian
With a long and pointed snout

It roamed the lands of South Africa
In the Cistecephalus zone
It had six incisors and a pair of canines
And many cheek teeth to chew

Ictidodraco is a fascinating creature
That we know from fossils alone
It was named by Broom and Robinson
In the year of 1948

Ictidodraco is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsids that lived in the Late Permian period in South Africa.

It had a low and long skull with a long and narrow snout.

It had large eye sockets that were enclosed by complete postorbital bars at the back of the sockets.

The temporal openings behind the eye sockets were relatively small.

The parietal region at the top of the skull was wide and did not form a distinctive sagittal crest.

It had a small secondary palate, a feature that gave it a mammal-like appearance.

It had six incisors and a pair of canines in the upper jaw.

The number of cheek teeth was increased compared to other therocephalians.