''Sarkastodon'' ("meaty tooth") is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of mammal within the creodont

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Oxyaenidae that lived during the early to late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

, 48.6 to 37.2 million years ago. It was a large, carnivorous animal that lived in what is today China and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

. ''Sarkastodon'' is known only from a skull and jawbones. ''Sarkastodon'' was probably a

hypercarnivore A hypercarnivore is an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material. Some extant e ...

that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Late Eocene, such as

brontotheres Brontotheriidae is a family of extinct mammals belonging to the order Perissodactyla, the order that includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Superficially, they looked rather like rhinos, although they were actually more closely related to h ...

chalicothere Chalicotheres (from Greek '' chalix'', "gravel" and '' therion'', "beast") are an extinct clade of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate (perissodactyl) mammals that lived in North America, Eurasia, and Africa from the Middle Eocene until the Early ...

s, and

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family (biology), family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member ...

es. Its weight is estimated at , and its length at 3 m (10 ft).

Discovery

The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimens of ''S. mongoliensis'' are known from Eocene deposits from the Irdin Manha Formation of

. Additional material referred to ''Sarkastodon'' is known from the Ulan Shireb beds ( from the holotype locality) of Inner Mongolia. These specimens were discovered by Walter W. Granger in 1930, on an expedition to the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast ...

Palaeobiology

''Sarkastodon'' was a

, with hyaena-like dentition specialised in bone-cracking.Rose KD. (2006.) ''The Beginning of the Age of Mammals''. JHU Press: page 122 The sharp, slicing

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

s (which form roughly rectilinear cutting blades) and crushing molars enabled ''Sarkastodon'' to eat both bone and flesh.Gunnell, GF. (1998.) "Creodonta", p. 91-109. In: Janis CM., Scott K.M., and Jacobs LL. (eds.). ''Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. It was probably an ambush predator, not a fast runner.

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of genus ''Sarkastodon'' are shown in the following cladogram.Prevosti, F. J. & Forasiepi, A. M. (2018.
"Introduction. Evolution of South American Mammalian Predators During the Cenozoic: Paleobiogeographic and Paleoenvironmental Contingencies"
/ref>

References

External links

Artistic reconstruction of ''Sarkastodon''
shown waiting for

Andrewsarchus ''Andrewsarchus'' () is an extinct genus of mammal that lived during the middle Eocene epoch in what is now Inner Mongolia, China. Only one species is usually recognized, ''A. mongoliensis'', known from a single skull of great size discovered ...

to finish eating from a dead

brontothere Brontotheriidae is a family of extinct mammals belonging to the order Perissodactyla, the order that includes horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Superficially, they looked rather like rhinos, although they were actually more closely related to h ...

. {{Taxonbar, from=Q527627 Oxyaenidae Eocene mammals of Asia Eocene genus first appearances Eocene genus extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1938

Discovery

Palaeobiology

Phylogeny

See also

References

External links