Thrinaxodon

Thrinaxodon
Temporal range: Early Triassic, 251–247 Ma
Fossil of T. liorhinus in National Museum of Natural History
Diagram of skull in lateral view
Scientific classification Edit this classification
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

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]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Blob R. 2001. Evolution of hindlimb posture in non-mammalian therapsids: biomechanical tests of paleontological hypotheses. 27(1): 14-38.