Syodontidae

Taxobox
name = Syodontidae
fossil_range = Wordian to Capitanian

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image_caption = "Syodon"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Synapsida
ordo = Therapsida
subordo = Dinocephalia
superfamilia = Anteosauroidea
familia = Syodontidae
familia_authority = Ivakhnenko, 1994
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = "Australosyodon"
"Notosyodon"
"Syodon"

Syodontidae are a possibly paraphyletic family of smallish primitive carnivorous Dinocephalia. They lack the distinctive 'boss' on the lower jaw, that characterises the Anteosauridae, so they can be considered more primitive. They are known from the Middle Permian Period of what is now Russia and, more recently, South Africa. The South African form, "Australosyodon", is the earliest known Gondwanan Anteosaur and dates from the "Eodicynodon" Assemblage Zone. It appears to be very similar to the Russian "Syodon".

References

* Bruce S. Rubidge 1994, Australosyodon, the first primitive anteosaurid dinocephalian from the Upper Permian of Gondwana, "Palaeontology", vol 37, part 3, pp.579–594 [http://palaeontology.palass-pubs.org/pdf/Vol%2037/Pages%20579-594.pdf online PDF archive]

Links

* [http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/400Therapsida/500.html Palaeos]
* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Dinocephalia/Anteosauria.htm Mikko's Phylogeny Archive]