Sinoconodon

Sinoconodon
Temporal range: Sinemurian
~193 Ma
↓
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Cynodontia
Clade: Mammaliamorpha
Order: †Sinoconodontiformes
Kinman, 1994
Family: †Sinoconodontidae
Mills, 1971
Genus: †Sinoconodon
Patterson & Olson, 1961
Species:
†S. rigneyi
Binomial name
†Sinoconodon rigneyi
Synonyms
List
  • Genera
    • Lufengoconodon Young 1982a
  • Species
    • Lufengoconodon changchiawaensis Young 1982a
    • Sinoconodon changchiawaensis (Young 1982) sensu Crompton & Sun 1985
    • Sinoconodon parringtoni Young 1982
    • Sinoconodon youngi Zhang 1983

Sinoconodon is an extinct genus of mammaliamorphs that appears in the fossil record of the Lufeng Formation of China in the Sinemurian stage of the Early Jurassic period, about 193 million years ago.[1] While sharing many plesiomorphic traits with other non-mammaliaform cynodonts, it possessed a special, secondarily evolved jaw joint between the dentary and the squamosal bones, which in more derived taxa would replace the primitive tetrapod one between the articular and quadrate bones. The presence of a dentary-squamosal joint is a trait historically used to define mammals.[2][3]

  1. ^ Lucas, Spencer (2001). Chinese Fossil Vertebrates. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 130–150. ISBN 978-0231084833.
  2. ^ Kielan-Jaworowska, Z; Luo, ZX; Cifelli, RL (2004). Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs. Columbia University Press. Chapter 4. ISBN 9780231119184.
  3. ^ Luo, Z.-X. (2005). "FOSSIL VERTEBRATES | Mesozoic Mammals". Encyclopedia of Geology. Elsevier. pp. 527–534. doi:10.1016/b0-12-369396-9/00008-3. ISBN 9780123693969.