Sectisodon ("cutting tooth") is an extinct genus of hyainailourid hyaenodont mammal of the subfamily Hyainailourinae from early Oligocene to early Miocene deposits in Egypt and Uganda.

Sectisodon
Temporal range: 33.9–15.97 Ma Early Oligocene to Early Miocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Hyaenodonta
Superfamily: Hyainailouroidea
Family: Hyainailouridae
Subfamily: Hyainailourinae
Tribe: Hyainailourini
Genus: Sectisodon
Morales & Pickford, 2017
Type species
Sectisodon occultus
Morales & Pickford, 2017
Species
  • S. markgrafi (Holroyd, 1999)[1]
  • S. occultus (Morales & Pickford, 2017)[2]
Synonyms
synonyms of species:
  • S. markgrafi:
    • Metapterodon markgrafi (Holroyd, 1999)

Description

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Morales and Pickford (2017, p. 346) diagnose Sectisodon as follows: "Hyainailourinae of small dimensions, M1 and M2 of similar length. M2 with paracone and metacone fused together, tall and pointed. Protocone very reduced, flattened and extending basally beyond the base of the paracone. Anterior cingulum with a well-defined parastyle with a moderate buccal cingulum. M2 and M1 with the metastyle quite a bit longer than the paracone-metacone. P3 short, with tall main cusp, posterior cusplet moderate, and much reduced protocone. Basal lingual cingulum strong, weaker on the buccal side. Lower molars with protoconid bigger than the metaconid, m2 with talonid present, much reduced in the m3."[2]

Classification and phylogeny

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Taxonomy

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Sectisodon markgrafi was originally assigned to genus Metapterodon by Holroyd (1999), who nonetheless recognized that Eocene and Oligocene hyainailourids he assigned to Metapterodon might prove generically distinct. Subsequent study demonstrated referred M. markgrafi to Sectisodon based on shared similarities with S. occultus.[2]

References

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  1. ^ P. A. Holroyd (1999.) "New Pterodontinae (Creodonta: Hyaenodontidae) from the late Eocene-early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum province, Egypt." PaleoBios 19(2):1-18
  2. ^ a b c Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2017). "New hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) and Grillental (Namibia)" (PDF). Fossil Imprint. 73 (3–4): 332–359. doi:10.2478/if-2017-0019. S2CID 31350436.