| Thrinaxodon Temporal range: Early Triassic |
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| Thrinaxodon liorhinus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Synapsida |
| Order: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | Cynodontia |
| Family: | †Thrinaxodontidae |
| Genus: | †Thrinaxodon Seeley, 1894 |
| Species | |
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Thrinaxodon was a cynodont, an ermine-sized (30 cm long) therapsid.[1] Pits on the skull suggest that Thrinaxodon may have had whiskers, and by extension a protective covering of fur. There are suggestions that it was warm-blooded. Even so, Thrinaxodon still laid eggs, and there were many reptilian features in its skeleton.
Its remains were found on South Africa and Antarctica, supporting the notion that the two continents were once joined together. This animal lived during the Triassic Period (248-245 million years ago).
Its name was taken from Greek θρῖναξ "trident, three-pronged fork" and ὀδούϛ ὀδόντ- "tooth", but with a Greek language error: *"Thrinacodon" would have been the grammatically correct form.
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Thrinaxodon probably lived in shallow burrows dug into hillsides or riverbanks.[2]
A low-slung, sharp-toothed carnivore, Thrinaxodon lived in burrows, and its well-differentiated teeth suggest it ate small creatures like insects, reptiles, and other small animals. Clues to its remains show that this creature was more mammal-like than its synapsid ancestors. It had a fairly large head/skull with pits in the bone suggesting it had whiskers which, in turn, hints that its body was hairy. An enlarged dentary bone strengthened either side of the lower jaw and contained sockets for its teeth. Its chest and lower back regions were probably separated by a diaphragm - a muscular sheet that contracted to fill lungs, and would have enabled Thrinaxodon to breathe more efficiently than its ancestors.
There were many larger predators during the Late Triassic, including some of the earliest carnivorous dinosaurs, such as Coelophysis. Thrinaxodon had few defenses against these.
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