Exaeretodon
Name:
Exaeretodon.
Phonetic: Ex-ay-ret-o-don.
Named By: Cabrera - 1943.
Synonyms: Ischignathus, Theropsis.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Therapsida, Cynodontia, Traversodontidae, Gomphodontosuchinae.
Species: E. frenguellii
(type), E. major, E. statisticae.
Diet: Herbivore?
Size: Up to 1.8 meters long.
Known locations: Argentina - Ischigualasto
Formation. Brazil - Santa Maria Formation. India - Lower
Maleri Formation.
Time period: Ladinian to Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.
Exaeretodon
seems to have been more herbivorous given that the teeth and jaw
structure of Exaeretodon seem to be more suited to
grinding. One
interesting point of note however is that very young juveniles had no
teeth. This suggests that young Exaeretodon had
to stay with the
mother for an extended period of time before their adult teeth came in
and they were able to process their own food.
At
just under two meters long Exaeretodon was
certainly one of the
larger cynodonts, though genera such as Diademodon
were slightly
larger.
Further reading
- A new cynodont reptile from the Triassic of India. - Journal of
Paleontology 56:203-214. - S. Chatterjee - 1982.
- The taxonomy of the traversodontid cynodonts Exaeretodon
and
Ischignathus. - Revista Brasileira de
Paleontologia 10 (2):
133–136. - J. Liu - 2007.
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