Eodicynodon

Eodicynodon
Temporal range: Middle Permian to Late Permian
Restoration of Eodicynodon oosthuizeni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Family: Eodicynodontidae
Barry, 1974
Genus: Eodicynodon
Barry, 1974
Type species
E. oosthuizeni
Barry, 1974

Eodicynodon (eo-, early or primitive, dicynodont) is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsids, a highly diverse group of herbivorous synapsids that were widespread during the middle-late Permian and early Triassic. As its name suggests, Eodicynodon is the oldest and most primitive dicynodont yet identified, ranging from the middle to late Permian and possessing a mix of ancestral anomodont/therapsid features and derived dicynodont synapomorphies.

First described by paleontologist T. H. Barry in 1974, E. oosthuizeni is named after Roy Oosthuizen, the South African farmer who discovered the type specimen (a partial skull without the mandible) on his Cape Province farm between 1964 and 1970.[1]

The Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone in South Africa is named after its presence there.

  1. ^ Barry, T.H. (1974). "A NEW DICYNODONT ANCESTOR FROM THE UPPER ECCA LOWER MIDDLE PERMIAN OF SOUTH AFRICA". Annals of the South African Museum. 64: 117–136 – via BioStor.