Titanogomphodon
| Titanogomphodon | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida
|
| Clade: | Cynodontia
|
| Family: | †Diademodontidae |
| Genus: | †Titanogomphodon Keyser, 1973 |
| Type species | |
| †T. crassus Keyser, 1973
| |
Titanogomphodon is an extinct
cynodonts from the Middle Triassic Omingonde Formation of Namibia. It is known from a single partial skull that was described in 1973 from the Omingonde Formation. The type and only species is Titanogomphodon crassus. At about 40 centimetres (16 in), the skull of Titanogomphodon was significantly larger than that of its closest relative, Diademodon (hundreds of skulls of Diademodon are known and none exceed 29 centimetres (11 in) in length).[1] Its teeth are similar to those of another group of cynodonts called Traversodontidae, but the similarities are likely the result of convergent evolution.[2] Aside from its larger size, Titanogomphodon differs from Diademodon in having a bony projection on the postorbital bar behind the eye socket.[1]
Diet
Like Diademodon, Titanogomphodon was probably
Herpetogale. The Omingonde assemblage was part of a larger continental fauna that ranged across much of Gondwana during the Middle Triassic.[3]
Other finds
An isolated upper jaw of a diademodontid described from the
Impidens hancoxi, which reached an even larger size than Titanogomphodon.[5]
References
- ^ .
- ^ Keyser, A.W. (1973). "A new Triassic vertebrate fauna from South West Africa" (PDF). Palaeontologica Africana. 16: 1–15.
- .
- .
- ISSN 0272-4634.