Triconodon

Triconodon
Temporal range: Berriasian
~145–140 Ma
Triconodon mordax jaw, Richard Owen 1861
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eutriconodonta
Family: Triconodontidae
Genus: Triconodon
Owen, 1859
Type species
Triconodon mordax
Owen, 1859
Other species
  • T. averianovi Jäger, Cifelli & Martin, 2020
Synonyms
  • Triacanthodon Owen, 1871

Triconodon ("three-coned tooth") is a genus of extinct mammal from the Early Cretaceous of England and France with two known species: T. mordax and T. averianovi. First described in 1859 by Richard Owen,[1] it is the type genus for the order Triconodonta, a group of mammals characterised by their three-cusped (triconodont) molar teeth. Since then, this "simplistic" type of dentition has been understood to be either ancestral for mammals or else to have evolved multiple times, rendering "triconodonts" a paraphyletic or polyphyletic assemblage respectively, but several lineages of "triconodont" mammals do form a natural, monophyletic group, known as Eutriconodonta, of which Triconodon is indeed part of.

Triconodon, therefore, is significant in the understanding of the evolution of mammals by originating the understanding of the "triconodont" grade and eutriconodont clade. Further discoveries on its skeletal anatomy also offer further insights on the palaeobiology of Mesozoic mammals.[2]

  1. ^ R. Owen. 1859. Palaeontology. Encyclopedia Britannica, 8th ed. 17:91-176 [P. Wagner/P. Wagner]
  2. ^ Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, Zhe-Xi Luo (2004). "Chapter 7: Eutriconodontans". Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: origins, evolution, and structure. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 216–248. ISBN 0-231-11918-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)