Jirahgorgon is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsid (mammal-line synapsid) known from the Permian (WordianâÂÂCapitanian age) Abrahamskraal Formation (Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone) of South Africa. The genus contains a single species, Jirahgorgon ceto, known from a complete skull articulated with the lower jaw.
The Jirahgorgon fossil material was discovered by Julien Benoit, with assistance from Michael O. Day, in March 2019 in outcrops of the middle Abrahamskraal Formation (Grootfontein Member), representing part of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone. These outcrops are situated on the Wilgerbos farm in the town of Laingsburg in the Western Cape of South Africa. The specimen is housed in the Evolutionary Studies Institute (formerly the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research), part of the University of the Witwatersrand, where it is permanently accessioned as specimen BP/1/8260. It consists of a complete skull, preserved in occlusion with the mandible (lower jaw). To facilitate greater study and research of the specimen, it was üCT-scanned at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France.
In 2026, Zanildo Macungo and colleagues described Jirahgorgon ceto as a new genus and species of gorgonopsian based on these fossil remains, establishing BP/1/8260 as the holotype specimen. The generic name, Jirahgorgon, honors Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) curator Sifelani Jirah, whose work focuses on fossils from South Africa's Karoo Basin, especially those of Permian therapsids. This is combined with âÂÂalluding to a trio of monsters in Greek mythologyâÂÂrefers to the larger clade, Gorgonopsia, to which the taxon belongs. The specific name, ceto, is also derived from Greek myth, wherein Ceto is the mother of the gorgons and the wife of Phorcys (for whom the closely related gorgonopsian Phorcys was named).
To test the affinities and relationships of Jirahgorgon, Macungo et al. (2026) included it in an updated version of the phylogenetic matrix of Macungo et al. (2025). This dataset recovered Jirahgorgon as a member of the newly recognized family Phorcyidae within the Gorgonopsia, as the sister taxon to Phorcys. Gorgonops and Eriphostoma were recovered as successive earlier-diverging lineages. These results are displayed in the cladogram below: