A Diminutive Creature with a Shocking Bite

Name  Euchambersia Mirabilis

Length:  3-4 feet

Time Period:  Late Permain (255 million years ago)

Location of Discovery:  Karoo Basin, South Africa

Euchambersia was a species of protomammal from the group therocephalia.  This means it had many mammal traits such as endothermy (warm bloodedness), well developed inner ears, whiskers, and small hairs.  However, it also possessed more primitive traits such as splayed, lizard like legs and an inflexible spine and ribcage.  It was a creature resembling a modern badger in size and stature, albeit with one important difference.  Euchambersia had grooves in its canine teeth and recesses in its jaws exactly like those of snakes, meaning it was clearly venomous.  A close relative, Ichibengops munyamadziensis, also possesses this feature, which may indicate that it was surprisingly widely spread.  A venom adaptation leads to some interesting questions about its hunting style, as it’s not clear what type of prey it could easily handle.  Some researchers point to its large, puncturing teeth and say it used them to break the thick skin of the large, iguana-like herbivorous animals that moved across its floodplain home in large herds.  Others believe Euchambersia’s relatively delicate mouth and  presence of a lion sized apex predator from the gorgonopsid family in its ecosystem meant it was better adapted to eating small prey animals, like a modern cat.  Either way, it is one of the most unique species of mammal ancestors ever discovered.