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| Nanictidops Temporal range:Late Permian | |
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| Holotype skull in (A) dorsal and (B) right lateral views; section of skull (indicated in B) in (C) dorsal and (D) ventral views. Scale bar = 2 cm | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | †Therocephalia |
| Clade: | †Eutherocephalia |
| Family: | †Nanictidopidae |
| Genus: | †Nanictidops Broom,1940 |
| Type species | |
| Nanictidops kitchingi | |
Nanictidops is an extinct genus oftherocephaliantherapsids from theLate Permian of South Africa'sKaroo Supergroup, containing the single speciesNanictidops kitchingi. Together with the closely relatedRussian genusPurlovia, it is a member of the familyNanictidopidae, although this is contended.[1]
The holotype and only specimen, RC 49, is part of the Rubidge collection inGraaf-Reinet, where it was originally found.[1]
The skull is short and wide with enormous canines and post-canines.[1] Of teeth, it had 3 canines, 5 incisors and 8 molars.Broom 1947 notes that it resembles the skull ofIctidochampsa.[2]
Although it andPurlovia were considered related and classified as the only two members ofNanictidopidae by Ivakhnenko 2011 because they shared a wide temporal region, Liu and Abdala 2020 found little relation between the two genera and instead classifiesNanictidops as thebasalmost member ofBaurioidea, whilePurlovia forms an exclusivelyLaurasian clade with the Chinese genusCaodeyao instead.[1]