Pristerodon

Pristerodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of South Africa, Zambia and India.

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

Pristerodon
Temporal range: Late Permian
Skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: †Dicynodontia
Family: †Eumantellidae
Genus: †Pristerodon
Huxley, 1868
Type species
†Pristerodon mackayi
Huxley, 1868
Synonyms

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 were herbivores living on flood plains.

gollark: dative - indirect object, "to"/"for"genitive - indicates posession, "of"ablative - used with some prepositions, "by"/"with"/"from"
gollark: nominative - subject of sentence, thing performing verbaccusative - object of sentence, thing having action done to it
gollark: Quick rundown of cases:
gollark: Yes, exactly.
gollark: Ah, very good. I'm sure you can find a Latin noun endings table on the e-web somewhere too.

See also

References
  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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.