Pristerodon

Pristerodon
Temporal range: Late Permian
Skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Family: Eumantellidae
Genus: Pristerodon
Huxley, 1868
Type species
Pristerodon mackayi
Huxley, 1868
Synonyms
  • Emydops longiceps Owen, 1876
  • Oudenodon raniceps Owen, 1876
  • Dicynodon trigoniceps Broom, 1904
  • Pristerodon brachyops (Broom, 1911)
  • Diaelurodon whaitsi (Broom, 1911)
  • Dicynodon pygmaeus Broom and Haughton, 1917
  • Emydops longus (Broom, 1921)
  • Emydops parvus Broom, 1921
  • Emyduranus platyops Broom, 1921
  • Cerataelurus mirabilis Broom, 1931
  • Orophicephalus microrhynchus (Huene, 1931)
  • Brachyuraniscus merwevillensis Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Brachyuraniscus reuningi Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Eurychororhinus boonstrai Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Synostocephalus vanhoepeni Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Emydops minimus Broom, 1935
  • Emyduranus gracilis Broom, 1935
  • Eumantellia mirus Broom, 1935
  • Emydops microdon Broom, 1936
  • Newtonella platyceps Broom, 1937
  • Dimetrodon siwerstrai Broom, 1940
  • Cryptocynodon schroederi Janensch, 1952
  • Emydops kitchingi Toerien, 1953
  • Emydops murraysburgensis Toerien, 1953
  • Hueneus oudebergensis Toerien, 1953
  • Parringtoniella broomi Toerien, 1953
  • Pristerodon buffaloensis Toerien, 1953

Pristerodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of South Africa, Zambia and India.

Paleobiology

[edit]

Brain and senses

[edit]

Pristerodon were among the earliest land animals able to hear airborne sound as opposed to hearing via ground vibrations. A South African specimen studied with neutron tomography[1] has shown evidence of an eardrum on its lower jaw with the implication that it was hearing impaired during the act of chewing. The specimen had a 3mm cavity for cochlea which transformed sound frequency ranges into nerve impulses sent on to the brain.

Ecology

[edit]

Pristerodon has been found in the Kundaram Formation of India, Usili Formation of Tanzania, the Upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia, and the Teekloof Formation and Abrahamskraal Formation of South Africa.

Phylogeny

[edit]

Pristerodon in a cladogram modified from Angielczyk and Rubidge (2010) showing the phylogenetic relationships of Dicynodontia:[2]

Dicynodontia 
[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Laaß, Michael (26 June 2015). "The origins of the cochlea and impedance matching hearing in synapsids" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60. doi:10.4202/app.00140.2014. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  2. ^ Kenneth D. Angielczyk; Bruce S. Rubidge (2010). "A new pylaecephalid dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, Karoo Basin, Middle Permian of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (5): 1396–1409. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30.1396A. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.501447. S2CID 129846697.
[edit]