Dissopsalis

Not to be confused with Dissacus or Dipassalus.

Dissopsalis
Temporal range: 16.1–8.8 Ma middle to late Miocene
Comparison of various Early to Middle Miocene hyaenodonts, including the hyainailurids Hyainailouros sulzeri (top) and Megistotherium osteothlastes (center), and teratodontid Dissopsalis pyroclasticus
Dissopsalis carnifex skull restoration, specimen AM19401
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Hyaenodonta
Superfamily: †Hyainailouroidea
Family: †Teratodontidae
Subfamily: †Teratodontinae
Tribe: †Dissopsalini
Genus: †Dissopsalis
Pilgrim, 1910
Type species
†Dissopsalis carnifex
Pilgrim, 1910
Species
  • †D. carnifex (Pilgrim, 1910)[1]
  • †D. pyroclasticus (Savage, 1965)[2]
Synonyms
synonyms of species:
  • D. carnifex:
    • Dissopsalis ruber (Pilgrim, 1910)

Dissopsalis ("double scissors") is a genus of teratodontine hyaenodonts of the tribe Dissopsalini.[3][4] The older species, D. pyroclasticus, lived in Kenya during the middle Miocene, while the type species, D. carnifex, lived in Pakistan and India during the middle to late Miocene.[5]

Dissopsalis is the last known hyaenodont genus. It lived alongside its relative Hyaenodon weilini, a member of the very successful genus Hyaenodon, during the Miocene in China. Dissopsalis survived to the end of the Miocene, whereas H. weilini did not.

  1. ^ Pilgrim, G. E. (1910.) "Preliminary note on a revised classification of the Tertiary freshwater deposits in India." Records Geological Survey of India, 40, 185-205.
  2. ^ R. J. G. Savage (1965.) "Fossil Mammals of Africa: 19 The Miocene Carnivora of East Africa." Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology 10(8):241-316
  3. ^ Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2017). "New hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) and Grillental (Namibia)" (PDF). Fossil Imprint. 73 (3–4): 332–359. doi:10.2478/if-2017-0019. S2CID 31350436.
  4. ^ Borths, M. R.; Seiffert, E. R. (April 2017). "Craniodental and humeral morphology of a new species of Masrasector (Teratodontinae, Hyaenodonta, Placentalia) from the late Eocene of Egypt and locomotor diversity in hyaenodonts". PLOS ONE. 12 (4): e0173527. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1273527B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173527. PMC 5396875. PMID 28422967.
  5. ^ Barry, J. C. (1988.) "Dissopsalis, a middle and late Miocene proviverrine creodont (Mammalia) from Pakistan and Kenya." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 48(1): 25–45