Cranial anatomy of , an enigmatic cynodont from the Middle Triassic of South Africa, and its phylogenetic significance.

The cynodont fauna of the Subzone of the Middle Triassic Assemblage Zone (AZ) is almost exclusively represented by taxa belonging to the clade Eucynodontia. However, there is one basal (non-eucynodont) cynodont known to have survived into this assemblage: the enigmatic . BSPG 1934-VIII-7 represents by far the most extensive specimen of , consisting of a partial skull with occluded lower jaw. The specimen was initially described by Broili & Schröder (1934), but their description was limited to surface details of the skull and the dental morphology. Here, by using a computed tomographic (CT) reconstruction, we redescribe this specimen, providing novel information on its palatal and internal anatomy. New endocranial characters recognized for this taxon include ridges in the nasal cavity indicating the presence of cartilaginous respiratory turbinals. New data obtained from the CT scan were incorporated into the most recently published data matrix of early non-mammalian cynodonts to test the previously unstable phylogenetic position of . Our phylogenetic analyses recovered as the sister-taxon of Eucynodontia, a more crownward position than previously hypothesized.