Syodontidae

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Syodontidae
Fossil range: Wordian to Capitanian
Syodon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Synapsida
Order: Therapsida
Suborder: Dinocephalia
Superfamily: Anteosauroidea
Family: Syodontidae
Ivakhnenko, 1994
Genera

Australosyodon
Notosyodon
Syodon

Syodontidae are a possibly paraphyletic family of smallish primitive carnivorous Dinocephalia. They lack the distinctive 'boss' on the lower jaw, that characterises the Anteosauridae, so they can be considered more primitive. They are known from the Middle Permian Period of what is now Russia and, more recently, South Africa. The South African form, Australosyodon, is the earliest known Gondwanan Anteosaur and dates from the Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone. It appears to be very similar to the Russian Syodon.

[edit] References

  • Bruce S. Rubidge 1994, Australosyodon, the first primitive anteosaurid dinocephalian from the Upper Permian of Gondwana, Palaeontology, vol 37, part 3, pp.579–594 online PDF archive

[edit] Links