| Euchambersia Temporal range: Late Permian - Early Triassic |
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| Euchambersia and its prey, a dicynodont | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Synapsida |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Therocephalia |
| Genus: | †Euchambersia Broom, 1931 |
| Species | |
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E. mirabilis (type) |
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Euchambersia was a therocephalian therapsid that lived during the Late Permian epoch, approximately 250 million years ago, in what is now South Africa.
Euchambersia was a unique therocephalian. It apparently had venom glands connected to its canine teeth. Like snakes, the teeth of Euchambersia were adapted to inject venom to kill its prey. A recess behind each canine tooth housed the venom gland, while grooves down the outer sides of the canine teeth delivered the venom into the puncture wound, together with powerful jaws this made it a very efficient predator to hunt the herbivorious dicynodonts and pareiasaurs it encountered.[1]
Euchambersia made an appearance in Walking with Monsters. Here, identified as a therocephalian, it was seen hunting Lystrosaurus in packs while the herd passed through a canyon. It is depicted as being nocturnal and having venom more potent than that of a black mamba. The model used for the Euchambersia was the same model that was used for the Thrinaxodon that appeared in the first episode of Walking with Dinosaurs. Actually, the therocephalian was never identified, so it could be another venomous therocephalian species. However, this is considered to be somewhat unlikely, since no other venomous therocephalian species have been discovered to date.
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