Endothiodon
Name:
Endothiodon
(inner tooth).
Phonetic: En-do-fy-o-don.
Named By: Richard Owen - 1876.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Therapsida, Anomodontia, Dicynodontia, Endothiodontidae.
Species: E. bathystoma
(type), E. uniseries, E. whaitsi & E.
mahalanobsi, E. tolani.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Potentially up to about 2 meters long,
but exact size may depend upon species.
Known locations: Across Africa and Asia, fossils
now also known from Brazil.
Time period: Wuchiapingian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Numerous individuals known
mostly by skulls and lower jaws, but post cranial skeletal fossil are
also known.
Endothiodon
is certainly one of the more interesting genera of dicynodont. First
named in 1876 from fossils discovered in South Africa,
Endothiodon is not only known from other African
countries such as
Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, but the genus is also known
from India in Asia, and now also Brazil in South America. This
is because back in the Permian when Endothiodon
lived, South America
Africa and Asia were still connected, and would not drift apart
until many millions of years later. The discovery of Endothiodon
in
Brazil is particularly noteworthy as this marked the first documented
discovery if dicynodont fossils in South America.
One
thing that immediately stands out about Endothiodon
is that the genus
lacks the two downward pointing tusks that are a common feature in
other dicynodonts. The forward portion of the upper jaw also curves
upwards slightly, while the lower jaw also curves up to follow the
curvature of the upper jaw. This may have been an adaptation to a
particular method of feeding that helped Endothiodon
to get plants into
the mouth. Early on Endothiodon were also thought
to have had two
rows of upper teeth, but this was later realised that the second row
were actually the crowns of the teeth from the lower jaw that had
become fixed to the upper jaw after death. This means that
Endothiodon only had one row of teeth in the upper
jaw.
In
life Endothiodon would have had a hardened beak
that was suitable for
cropping low growing vegetation which was then processed by pear-shaped
teeth in the mouth. Although a fairly large herbivore, Endothiodon
may have still been attacked and preyed upon by predators such as
gorgonopsids.
Many
species of Endothiodon have been named, but today
only four are
recognised as valid. Further to this some researchers have speculated
that these species may actually represent different growth stages of
just one species. This is because the primary factor in identifying
different species of Endothiodon is at this time
their relative size to
one another.
Further reading
- Descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the fossil reptilia of
South Africa in the collections of the British Museum. - Taylor and
Francis. - Richard Owen - 1876.
- Catalogue of types and figured specimens of fossil vertebrates in
the American Museum of Natural History. II.–Permian, Triassic and
Jurassic reptiles of South Africa. - Bulletin of the American
Museum of Natural History 25(2):105-164. - Robert Broom -
1915.
- On the palate, dentition, and classification of the fossil
reptile Endothiodon and related genera. -
American Museum of
Natural History 2171. - Barry C. Cox - 1964.
- Dentition and feeding niche of Endothiodon
(Synapsida;Anomodontia). - Palaeontologia Africana 32,
75-82. - E. M. Latimer, C. E. Gow & B. S.
Rubidge - 1995.
- Endothiodont Dicynodonts from the Late Permian Kundaram Formation,
India. - Palaeontology 43(2):375-404. - Sanghamitra Ray
- 1999.
- On the presence of the Late Permian dicynodont Endothiodon
in
Brazil. - Palaeontology
Volume 56, Issue 4, pages 837–848 - Alessandra D. S.
Boos, Cesar L. Schultz, Christina S. Vega & Juar�s
J. Aumond - 2013.
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