Sarkastodon

Sarkastodon
Temporal range: 45.0–39.9 Ma Middle Eocene
Reconstruction of Sarkastodon mongoliensis
Skull reconstructions of Sarkastodon mongolensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Oxyaenodonta
Family: †Oxyaenidae
Subfamily: †Oxyaeninae
Genus: †Sarkastodon
Granger, 1938[1]
Type species
†Sarkastodon mongoliensis
Granger, 1938[1]
Species
  • †Sarkastodon henanensis (Tong & Lei, 1986)[2]
  • †Sarkastodon mongoliensis (Granger, 1938)

Sarkastodon ("meaty tooth") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Oxyaeninae within extinct family Oxyaenidae, that lived in Asia (in today's China and Mongolia) during the middle Eocene.[1] It was a genus of large, carnivorous animals known only from a skull and jawbones. Sarkastodon was probably a hypercarnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Middle Eocene, such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses. Its weight is estimated at 800 kg (1,800 lb),[3] and its length at 3 m (10 ft).[4]

  1. ^ a b c Granger, W. (1938.) "A giant oxyaenid from the upper Eocene of Mongolia." American Museum Novitates 969.
  2. ^ Y. Tong and Y. Lei (1986.) "Fossil Creodonts and Carnivores (Mammalia) from the Hetaoyuan Eocene of Henan." Vertebrata PalAsiatica 24(3):210-221
  3. ^ Sorkin, B. (2008). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators". Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. Bibcode:2008Letha..41..333S. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x.
  4. ^ Prothero, Donald R. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals. Princeton University Press. p. 125. ISBN 9781400884452.