Syodontinae is a group of
dinocephalian
therapsid
Therapsida is a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals, their ancestors and relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more ...
s. It is one of two
subfamilies
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
in the family
Anteosauridae
Anteosauridae is an extinct family of large carnivorous dinocephalian therapsids that are known from the Middle Permian of Asia, Africa, and South America.These animals were by far the largest predators of the Permian period, with skulls reaching ...
, the other being
Anteosaurinae
Anteosaurinae is an extinct subfamily of dinocephalian therapsids. It is one of two subfamilies in the family Anteosauridae, the other being Syodontinae.
Description
These are very specialized, very large anteosaurs. The postcanine teeth are ...
.
They are known from the Middle Permian Period of what is now Russia and South Africa. One of the best known syodontines is ''
Syodon'' from Russia. The South African form ''
Australosyodon'', is one of the earliest known
Gondwanan anteosaurs.
Description
Syodontines lack the boss on the lower jaw that characterises the related anteosaurines, and they have often been considered more primitive in this respect.
Classification
Below is a
cladogram showing syodontine relationships from a 2012
phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
study of anteosaurians:
References
Anteosaurs
Guadalupian first appearances
Guadalupian extinctions
Prehistoric animal subfamilies
Tetrapod subfamilies
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