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.

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gollark: ```lualocal function setInterval(func, s, ...) assert(type(func) == "function", "bad argument #1 (expected function, got ".. type(func) ..")") s = s or 0 assert(type(s) == "number", "bad argument #2 (expected number, got ".. type(s) ..")") local interval = {} interval.interval = s interval.func = func interval.args = {...} interval.id = genHex() interval.run = true interval.stopped = false interval.pid = spawn(function() while interval.run do sleep(interval.interval) spawn(function() interval.func(unpack(interval.args)) end) end end) interval = setmetatable(interval, { __tostring = function() return string.format("Interval 0x%x [%s]s (%s)", interval.id, s, string.match(tostring(func),"%w+$")) end, }) return intervalend```
gollark: It's included in PotATOS.

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.
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