Name: Diictodon
(Two
weasel toothed).
Phonetic: Die-ick-toe-don.
Named By: Richard Owen - 1876.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida, Therapsida,
Anomodontia, Dicynodontia, Pylaecephalidae.
Species: D. feliceps (type).
Other species once named include D. galeops,
D. grimbeeki, D. ictidops, D. palustris, D. parrington, and D.
psittacops,
though the validity of all but the type species is now in doubt.
Type: Herbivore.
Size: 45 cm long.
Known locations: South Africa, possibly Asia.
Time period: Lopingian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Very well represented with
many specimens found.
Diictodon
was
a burrowing dicynodont that appears to have been extremely numerous and
widespread. It had a short round body, stubby legs and sharp claws on
the front feet, all very good adaptations for burrowing life. Although
Diictodon did not build interconnecting burrows with
others of its
species, evidence suggests that large numbers would gather and burrow
in close proximity to one another. Diictodon
burrows typically spiral
down into the ground before levelling off into the terminal chamber
where the Diictodon would have slept and reared
young. Although
burrows could vary in size, larger burrows are known to have reached
depths as far as one and a half meters into the ground.
Diictodon
also had an
oversized head for its body with a cropping beak that would have been
suitable for feeding on the arid vegetation of the time. Diictodon,
like other dicynodonts, possessed a pair of large tusks that erupted
and pointed down from the upper jaw. While it has been suggested that
male and female Diictodon both had tusks, a 2005
study by Corwin
Sullivan cast doubt upon this. In this study Sullivan noted that only
the type species of Diictodon, D. feliceps
can be distinguished with
clarity, and that other species are probably synonymous with this. It
was also then noted that since known Diictodon
skulls, come in both
tusked and non-tusked forms, they may represent a distinction between
males and females, with the males being tusked.
Many
Diictodon remains have
been found inside of their burrows. It’s plausible that they may have
been flooded when an ancient river burst its banks at the onset of the
wet season. This is a valid theory as flood plains often prove very
fertile for plant species to flourish, and so it could be that in their
search for food the Diictodon got too close to the
source of their
life.
Further reading
- Functional aspects of the postcranial anatomy of the Permian
dicynodont Diictodon and their ecological
implications - Palaeontology,
vol 46 issue 1, pages 151-183 - Sanghamitra Ray & Anusuya
Chinsamy - 2003.
- Diictodon feliceps (Therapsida, Docynodontia):
Bone Histology, Growth
and Biomechanics - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(1): 180-194 -
Sanghamitra Ray & Anusuya Chinsamy - 2004.
- Cranial Anatomy and Taxonomy of the Late Permian Dicynodont Diictodon
- Annals of Carnegie Museum 74(1):45-75 - Corwin Sullivan - 2005.