| Elliotsmithia Temporal range: Middle Permian
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Family: | †Varanopidae |
| Subfamily: | †Varanopinae |
| Genus: | †Elliotsmithia Broom, 1937 |
| Type species | |
| †Elliotsmithia longiceps Broom, 1937
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Elliotsmithia is a small varanopid synapsid found from the late Middle Permian of South Africa. It is the sole basal synapsid "pelycosaur" known from the supercontinent Gondwana and only two specimens have been yielded to date. Its species name longiceps is derived from Latin, meaning "long head". Both known Elliotsmithia fossils were recovered from Abrahamskraal Formation rocks—within the boundaries of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone—of the lower Beaufort Group.[1][2] It was named for the late Sir Grafton Elliot Smith in 1937.[3]
- ^ Dilkes, D.W. and Reisz, R.R. (1996). "First Record of a Basal Synapsid ('Mammal-Like Reptile') in Gondwana". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Reisz, R.R., Dilkes, D.W. and Berman, D.S. (2010-08-24). "Anatomy and relationships of Elliotsmithia longiceps Broom, a small synapsid (Eupelycosauria: Varanopseidae) from the Late Permian of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (3): 602–611. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011087.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Broom, R. (1937-09-01). "A Further Contribution to our Knowledge of the Fossil Reptiles of the Karroo". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. B107 (3): 299–318. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1937.tb00011.x. ISSN 1469-7998.