Sekhmetops (meaning "Sekhmet face") is an extinct genus of carnivorous hyaenodont mammals from the Early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation of Egypt. The genus contains two species, S. africanus and S. phiomensis, both of which were originally assigned to the genus "Pterodon".
Discovery and naming.
In 1903, British paleontologist Charles W. Andrews participated in an expedition to Fayûm, Egypt, during which several new vertebrate fossils were collected. Later that year, he published a brief note describing these specimens. He classified one of these, a partial right jaw bone (specimen NHMUK M8503), as a new species of the genus "Pterodon", noting how its large size distinguished it from the type species of this genus. The specific name, "africanus", is a Latin adjective meaning "from Africa". In a 1906 book, Andrews described and figured the specimen in more depth. He also provisionally referred a left humerus and right femur to this species.
In 1909, American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn described another species of "Pterodon", "P. phiomensis", based on the holotype (AMNH 13253), a nearly complete left lower jaw. He also referred a second comparable lower jaw, AMNH 13254. Osborn described this species as about two-thirds the size of "P. africanus", with a more slender jaw morphology. The specific name, "phiomensis", is derived from the "phiom"—the Greek word for Fayûm, meaning "lake"—referencing the type locality.
In 2025, Al-Ashqar et al. revised the record of African species assigned to "Pterodon", a historic wastebasket taxon. As in previous analyses, they observed that the species referred to this genus form a polyphyletic assemblage. As such, they established a new genus, "Sekhmetops", for ""P." "africanus" and "P." "phiomensis". The generic name combines a reference to Sekhmet—a lion-headed goddess from Ancient Egyptian mythology associated with pestilence and war—with the Greek suffix "-ops"", meaning "face". The authors' intended translation is "having the face of the lion-headed goddess".
Classification.
Using an expanded matrix from previous phylogenetic analyses, Al-Ashqar et al. recovered ""P." "africanus" and "P."" "phiomensis" as sister taxa within the hyaenodontan subfamily Hyainailourinae. Their results are displayed in the cladogram below: