Arctops ("bear face") is an extinctgenus of gorgonopsiantherapsids known from the Late Permian of South and Eastern Africa. It measured up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in length and its skull was 30 centimetres (12 in) long.[1] The type species is Arctops willistoni, named from a poorly prepared and incomplete skull. A second species was named A. watsoni based on a complete skull in 1953, followed by a third in 1970, A. kitchingi, from a smaller, juvenile skull.[2] Both were formally synonymized with A. willistoni by Christian Kammerer in 2017.[3] An additional species, A. umulunshi, was described in 2025 from the Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia, named after the indigenous Icibemba word for "hunter".[4]
^Kammerer, C.F. (2017). "Anatomy and relationships of the South African gorgonopsian Arctops (Therapsida, Theriodontia)". Papers in Palaeontology. 3 (4): 583–611. doi:10.1002/spp2.1094.
^Mann, Arjan; Sidor, Christian A. (2025-08-07). "Arctops umulunshi, sp. nov. (Therapsida: Gorgonopsia) from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia, with new information on gorgonopsian postcranial anatomy". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 45 (sup1) 2444405. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2444405. ISSN0272-4634.
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