Syodon

Life image of Syodon

• Russia ( Ischejewo and Perm region )

• Syodon biarmicum Kutorga, 1838

Syodon (Greek pig tooth σῦς "pig" and ὀδούς "tooth" ) was a genus of small to medium sized, probably omnivorous therapsids (early relatives of modern mammals ) from the late Guadalupium ( Capitanium ) in Russia. The first description of the type species Syodon biarmicum written by the Russian scientist Stephan Semjonowitsch Kurtoga based on a single canine tooth.

The fossils of the type species originate from the copper sandstone of the western Urals, further specimens were found near Ischejewo in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. The Russian paleontologist Yuri Alexandrovich Orlov 1940 described another way Syodon efremovi, which is however, provides only insufficient and probably represents a synonym of Syodon biarmicum or a juvenile specimen of Titanophoneus.

Physique

Syodon biarmicum is obtained with two skulls, one with the lower jaw and various postcranial elements. The skull had a length of 22 centimeters, which causes the total body length of the animal is estimated to be about 1.2 meters.

The eye sockets were quite large, suggesting a nocturnal animal. The temple openings similar to those of Titanophoneus with a large and thick postorbital for the attachment of the adductor muscles. The opening of the parietal eye was sitting on a thickening, which was formed by the frontal bone and parietal bone.

Some vertebrae found suggest that there were only slight anatomical differences Titanophoneus except different size. The slender femur show the characteristic features of the Brithopodidae and differ significantly from those of the already Pelycosaurier.

The characteristic fangs were rounded and bent. You already strongly reminded the Hauzähnen of mammals, which already Kurtoga recognized. Kurtoga was the first who pointed out the similarities between therapsids and the modern mammals.

Syodon was closely related to the Australosyodon found in South Africa.

Synonyms

Cliorhizodon ( Twelvetrees, 1880) and Deuterosaurus seeleyi ( Nopsca ) are junior synonyms of Syodon. Notosyodon ( Tschudinow, 1968) is probably also a synonym of Syodon.