Eozostrodon

Eozostrodon is an extinct Morganucodont mammaliform. It lived during the Rhaetian stage of the Late Triassic.[1] Eozostrodon is known from disarticulated bones in Wales and Southwest England and estimated to have been less than 10 cm (3.9 in) in head-body length, slightly smaller than the similar-proportioned Megazostrodon.[1][2]

Eozostrodon
Temporal range: Rhaetian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Cynodontia
Family: †Morganucodontidae
Genus: †Eozostrodon
Parrington, 1941
Type species
Eozostrodon parvus
Parrington, 1941

Eozostrodon was described on the basis of two teeth discovered in a quarry near Frome in Somerset, England, each originally assigned to separate species E. parvus and E. problematicus.[3] The latter was synonymized in 1971.[4] The identity of and status of Eozostrodon is controversial. Kühne considered Eozostrodon to be "one and the same" with Morganucodon which he described, albeit after the published description of Eozostrodon, claiming "...for a number of good reasons Morganucodon ought to be used, the name of Eozostrodon being used for sentimental reasons only or because of ignorance."[5] Jenkins and Crompton in 1979 argued Morganucodon was a subjective synonym of Eozostrodon,[6] yet Clemens (1979) argued for the distinction.[4] A more recent publication again distinguished the two, noting that Eozostrodon differs from M. watsoni in relative size and shape of premolar structures.[7]

Its teeth were typically mammalian, being differentiated into molars and premolars with triangular cusps.

References
  1. Jenkins, Jr., F. A.; Parrington, F. R. (1976). "The Postcranial Skeletons of The Triassic Mammals Eozostrodon, Megazostrodon and Erythrotherium". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 273 (926): 387–431. doi:10.1098/rstb.1976.0022.
  2. "Classification of the genus Eozostrodon". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  3. Parrington, F. R. (1941). "On two mammalian teeth from the Lower Rhaetic of Somerset". Journal of Natural History. Series 11. 8 (44): 140–144. doi:10.1080/00222934108527197.
  4. Clemens, William A. (1979). "A problem in morganucodontid taxonomy (Mammalia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 66 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1979.tb01898.x.
  5. Kühne, W. G. (1973). "The systematic position of monotremes reconsidered (Mammalia)". Zeitschrift für Morphologie der Tiere. 75 (1): 59–64. doi:10.1007/bf00723669.
  6. F. A. Jenkins and A. W. Crompton. 1979. "Triconodonta. In J. A. Lillegraven, Z. Kielan-Jaworowska, W. A. Clemens (eds.), Mesozoic Mammals: the First Two-Thirds of Mammalian History 74-90. Summary
  7. Z. Kielan-Jaworowska, R. L. Cifelli, and Z.-X. Luo. 2004. Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: Origins, evolution, and structure. Columbia University Press, New York 1-630.
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