The first occurrence of Cyonosaurus (Therapsida, Gorgonopsia) from the Luangwa Basin of Zambia

Gorgonopsian therapsids represent the apex predators of the late Permian ecosystems they inhabited and were a taxonomically rich group known from across Africa, as well as India, western Russia, and China. Gorgonopsians from the Karoo Basin of South Africa have been densely sampled and, as a result, their taxonomy and stratigraphic distribution are well-established and serve as a baseline to which other contemporaneous localities can be compared. Here, using micro-computed tomography imaging, we describe the skull of a small-bodied gorgonopsian collected from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation in the Luangwa Basin of Zambia. Based on its dentition, palatal anatomy, and postfrontal anatomy, we identify this specimen as Cyonosaurus. This record expands the geographic distribution of this gorgonopsian genus outside of the Karoo Basin and into more northern localities. The presence of Cyonosaurus in the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia supports the recognition of these beds as late Wuchiapingian in age. Finally, the co-occurrence of Cyonosaurus with several other gorgonopsian species provides a system to better understand the ways body size and feeding specializations may have allowed for cryptic niche partitioning of predators in these late Permian ecosystems.