gorgonopsians ever conducted. Gebauer found "D." nasuta as a member of the family Gorgonopsidae, which in her classification excluded the most basal genera of gorgonopsians in her tree that she regarded as plesiomorphic (i.e. representing the ancestral condition) for the group. Within Gorgonopsidae, "D." nasuta was a relatively derived member but outside of the clade including the giant and derived Rubidgeinae and Inostrancevia, occupying part of an evolutionary grade between them and more ancestral gorgonopsids. The results of Gebauer (2007) are depicted in the cladogram below (with notes reflecting notable taxonomic and nomenclatural changes that have occurred in the years since): The analysis of Gebauer (2007) was the first major attempt to perform a phylogenetic analysis of gorgonopsians, however its results have not been borne out by subsequent independent analyses. Namely, Kammerer (2016) regarded Gebauer's analysis as "unsatisfactory", citing that many of the characters used by her analysis were based upon skull proportions that are variable within taxa, both individually and ontogenetically (i.e. traits that change through growth). As an example of a potential problem created by this, he highlighted the basal position of Aloposaurus (a wastebasket taxon of various immature gorgonopsians) compared to the stratigraphically older and morphologically basal Eoarctops (now a junior synonym of Eriphostoma) being found in a relatively more derived position. "D." nasuta has yet to be included in any later phylogenetic analyses of gorgonopsians, and in 2014 Kammerer commented that both its generic status and phylogenetic relationships amongst other gorgonopsians needed further study pending a full re-description before a generic assignment could be made. Notes References Gorgonopsia Prehistoric therapsid genera Fossils of Tanzania Lopingian synapsids of Africa Lopingian genus first appearances Lopingian genus extinctions Nomina nuda