Archaeosyodon

Artistic representation of live Archaeosyodon

• Perm region (Russia)

• Archaeosyodon praeventor

Archaeosyodon is an extinct genus of synapsids from the group of Dinocephalia. Within the Dinocephalia it is assigned to the Anteosauria, a group of four-legged predators. Fossils have been dated to the Middle Permian and come from the Perm region of Russia. The only way is Archaeosyodon praeventor.

Archaeosyodon is known by six fragmentary skull and other isolated bones of the skull found. All findings are from a single locality in the district Ocherskii. The genus was described in 1960 by Pyotr Konstantinovich Tschudinow first scientifically; In 1983, a further, more extensive description.

Features

From other representatives of Anteosauria Archaeosyodon be distinguished by a number of primitive features, for example through an extensive dentition of the palate. The snout was bulbous - a feature that only can be found under other Anteosauria at Sinophoneus. Unique features also found on the teeth; For example, the canines were short, broad and strongly bent backwards.

System

The phylogenetic relationships of Archaeosyodon are unclear. In the past he was the Syodontidae ( Iwachnenko, 1994) or the Titanosuchidae ( Iwachnenko, 1995 and 2003), a group outside the Anteosauria assigned. A recent analysis by Christian Kammerer (2011) classified this species as a representative Anteosauria, but outside of the declared by him as family Syodontinae.

Microsyodon

Archaeosyodon

Syodontinae (eg Syodon )

Anteosaurinae (eg Anteosaurus )