Syodon

Syodon
Temporal range: Middle Permian 267–260 Ma
Skull in Moscow Paleontological Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: †Dinocephalia
Family: †Anteosauridae
Genus: †Syodon
Kutorga, 1838
Species:
†S. biarmicum
Binomial name
†Syodon biarmicum
Kutorga, 1838

Syodon (from Greek: kleio, "close, shut" and Greek: odon, "tooth", "closed-root tooth") is an extinct genus of dinocephalian therapsids that lived approximately 267-260 million years ago during the middle Permian period of the Paleozoic era. These therapsids, discovered in Russia were initially believed to be true mammals. Syodon was first named by Stephan Kutorga in 1838.

Discovery

Syodon was one of the first non-mammalian synapsids to be described, named by Stepan Kutorga in 1838 from an isolated canine found in the Russian Urals. Originally the tooth was interpreted as that of a "pachyderm" mammal, but was recognised as belonging to a non-mammalian synapsid in the 1870s. Cliorhizodon orenburgensis known from a partial maxilla, as well as Syodon efremovi (originally Cliorhizodon efremovi), known from a complete skull and lower jaws (PIN 157/2) are now recognised as synonyms of S. biarmicum.

Description

Skull diagram

The skull of the adult PIN 157/2 individual is around 21.8 centimetres (8.6 in) long. The strongly curved ‘hook-like' canine of Syodon is highly distinctive and allows it to be distinguished easily from most other anteosaurs. It is distinguished from Notosyodon by having a thinner zygomatic region. Syodon is characterized by possessing "bulbous" post-canines featuring significant wear facets in adults, whereas juveniles tend to have ‘bladelike’ post canines. Syodon also features set of smaller, replacement teeth out-of-place from the main palatine tooth row. The snout of Syodon is relatively long and narrow.

Ecology

Syodon was a relatively small predatory anteosaur. It lived alongside other animals in the Isheevo faunal assemblage, such as the larger predatory anteosaur Titanophoneus, the predatory therocephalian Porosteognathus, the herbivorous large tapinocephalian Ulemosaurus, small herbivorous bolosaurid reptiles, the reptiliomorphs Enosuchus and Lanthanosuchus, as well as the temnospondyls Tryphosuchus, Konzhukovia, and Uralosuchus.

Life restoration

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Syodon". Paleofile. Archived from the original on April 14, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Palaeos Vertebrates Therapsida: Anteosauridae".
  3. 1 2 3 Kammerer, Christian F. (13 December 2010). "Systematics of the Anteosauria (Therapsida: Dinocephalia)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (2): 261–304. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.492645.
  4. ↑ Kutorga , S. S. 1838 . Beitrag zur Kenntniss der organischen Überreste des Kupfersandsteins am Westlichen Abhange des Urals [Contribution to the Knowledge of the Organic Remains of the Copper Sandstone on the Western Slope of the Urals] , 38 Gretsch : St Petersburg .
  5. ↑ Kruger, Ashley; Rubidge, Bruce S.; Abdala, Fernando (2018-01-26). "A juvenile specimen of Anteosaurus magnificus Watson, 1921 (Therapsida: Dinocephalia) from the South African Karoo, and its implications for understanding dinocephalian ontogeny". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16 (2): 139–158. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1276106. hdl:11336/67088. ISSN 1477-2019.
  6. ↑ Golubev, V.K. (2000). "The faunal assemblages of Permian terrestrial vertebrates from Eastern Europe" (PDF). Paleontological Journal. 34 (Suppl. 2): S211–S224.