Sectisodon
Sectisodon is a genus of hyainailourid creodont from late Paleogene to early Neogene deposits in Egypt and Uganda.
Sectisodon | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | †Creodonta |
Family: | †Hyainailouridae |
Genus: | †Sectisodon |
Species | |
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Description
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."[1]
Taxonomy
Sectisodon markgrafi was originally assigned to Metapterodon by Holroyd (1999), who nonetheless recognized that Eocene and Oligocene hyainailourids he assigned to Metapterodon might prove generically distinct.[2] Subsequent study demonstrated referred M. markgrafi to Sectisodon based on shared similarities with S. occultus.[1]
References
- Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2017). "New hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) and Grillental (Namibia)". Fossil Imprint. 73 (3–4): 332–359. doi:10.2478/if-2017-0019.
- Holroyd, P. A. (1999): New Pterodontinae (Creodonta: Hyaenodontidae) from the late Eocene–early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Province, Egypt. – PaleoBios, 19(2): 1–18.