Name:
Sinoconodon
(Chinese spike tooth.).
Phonetic: Sy-noe-con-o-don.
Named By: B. Patterson & E. C.
Olson - 1961.
Synonyms: Lufengoconodon changchiawaensis,
Sinoconodon changchiawaensis, Sinoconodon parringtoni, Sinoconodon
yangi.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Therapsida, Cynodontia, Mammaliamorpha, Sinoconodontidae.
Species: S rigneyi (type).
Diet: Insectivore.
Size: About 15 centimetres long.
Known locations: China.
Time period: Sinemurian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and post
cranial remains of several individuals.
As a genus Sinoconodon represents one of the most primitive mammaliaforms currently known to science. There were once four species of Sinoconodon named, but it was eventually realised that all of these fossils represented individuals of the same species but at different growth stages. Only the type species, S. rigneyi today remains valid.
Further reading
- A triconodont mammal from the Triassic of Yunnan. International
Colloquium on the Evolution of Lower and Non Specialized Mammals.
Koninklijke Vlaamse Academir voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone
Kunsten can Belgie 129-191. - B. Patterson & E. C.
Olson - 1961.
- [Two primitive mammals from Lufeng, Yunnan]. Selected Works
of Yang Zhungjian. - Science Press, Beijing 21-25. - C.
-C. Young - 1982.
- New material and new understanding of Sinoconodon.
- Vertebrata
Palasialica, 21: 32-41. - F. Zhang & G. Cui -
1983.
- Cranial structure and relationships of the Liassic mammal
Sinoconodon. - Zoological Journal of Linnean
Society 85:99-119.
- A. W. Crompton - 1985.
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