Pristerodon

Pristerodon; Temporal range: Late Permian
	Skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Scientific 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

Brain and senses

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

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

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

Pylaecephalidae

	Robertia

	Diictodon

	Prosictodon

Chelydontops

Endothiodon

Pristerodon

Emydopoidea

Emydops

Myosaurus

Kingoriidae

	Dicynodontoides

	Kombuisia

Cistecephalidae

Cistecephalus

	Cistecephaloides

	Kawingasaurus

Pristerodontia

Interpresosaurus

Elph

Rhachiocephalus

Cryptodontidae

Oudenodon

	Tropidostoma

	Australobarbarus

Geikiidae

Odontocyclops

Idelesaurus

Aulacephalodon

	Geikia

	Pelanomodon

Dicynodontoidea

	Kannemeyeriiformes

	Vivaxosaurus

Gallery

Restoration of Pristerodon mackayi
Size of Pristerodon mackayi relative to a human

References

^ 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.
^ 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.

External links

The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive

This Anomodont-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[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.

[ar2010-2] 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.

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