| Thrinaxodon Temporal range: Early Triassic,
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| Fossil of T. liorhinus in National Museum of Natural History | |
)_(18161901551).jpg)
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| Diagram of skull in lateral view | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | Cynodontia |
| Clade: | Epicynodontia |
| Family: | †Thrinaxodontidae Watson & Romer, 1956 |
| Genus: | †Thrinaxodon Seeley, 1894 |
| Type species | |
| Thrinaxodon liorhinus Seeley, 1894
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Thrinaxodon is an extinct genus of cynodonts, including the species T. liorhinus which lived in what are now South Africa and Antarctica during the Early Triassic. Thrinaxodon lived just after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event, its survival during the extinction may have been due to its burrowing habits.[1]
Similar to other therapsids, Thrinaxodon adopted a semi-sprawling posture, an intermediary form between the sprawling position of basal tetrapods and the more upright posture present in current mammals.[2] Thrinaxodon is prevalent in the fossil record in part because it was one of the few carnivores of its time, and was of a larger size than similar cynodont carnivores.[citation needed]
- ^ Damiani, R.; Modesto, S.; Yates, A.; Neveling, J. (2003). "Earliest evidence of cynodont burrowing". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 270 (1525): 1747–1751. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2427. JSTOR 3592240. PMC 1691433. PMID 12965004.
- ^ Blob R. 2001. Evolution of hindlimb posture in non-mammalian therapsids: biomechanical tests of paleontological hypotheses. 27(1): 14-38.