Athena Review Image Archive ™
Shansiodon wuhsiangensis skull
Skull of Shansiodon wuhsiangensis (after Yeh 1961 )
Shansiodon was a Early to Middle Triassic dicynodont found in Shanxi province in northern China. Dicynodonts ("two dog teeth"), representing plant-eating therapsids or mammal-like reptiles, are the most numerous taxa in these late Early Triassic levels, consisting of the three genera Kannemeyeria, Parakannemeyeria, and Shansiodon. The former two are large individuals, while Shansiodon, represented by three different species, is relatively small.
One of the Shansiodon species, S. wuhsiangensis (Yeh 1961), illustrated here, shows the large twin tusks characteristic of the genus, and typical of many of the plant-eating dicynodont taxa. Another, S. wagni, showed good preservation of the stapes, a hearing ossicle attached to the quadrate bone in the occipital region at the lower rear of the skull, which is an indicator of mammaliform developments.
References:
Yeh 1961. Dicynodonts Vertebrata Paleoasiatica IV
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