Apterodon
Name: Apterodon
Phonetic: Ap-teh-roe-don.
Named By: Fischer - 1880.
Synonyms: Apterodon flonheimensis,
Dasyurodon.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Creodonta,
Hyaenodontidae?
Species: A. gaudryi (type),
A. altidens, A. Intermedus, A. macrognathus, A.
saghensis.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: Egypt, Germany.
Time period: Priabonian of the Eocene to Rupelian of
the Oligocene.
Fossil representation: Fossils of several
individuals, though often of very incomplete remains.
A
little known creodont genus, Apterodon fossil
locations so far
suggest that the genus roamed across Europe and North Africa from the
late Eocene to early Oligocene periods. Although a creodont and a
predator, Apterodon lacks the carnassial
(blade-like meat
shearing) teeth that are seen in other creodonts. This may indicate
a different eating and possibly hunting specialisation for this genus,
something that may have reduced inter-species competition and allowed
it to live in the same ecosystems as other creodonts.
One
former species of Apterodon, A.
flonheimensis, is now considered
to be a synonym to the type species A. gaudryi.
Further reading
- Apterodon intermedus, sp. nov., a new
European Creodont Mammal
from MP22 of Espenhain (Germany), Bridgette lange-Badre
& Madelaine Bohme - 2005.
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