Late Triassic traversodontids (Synapsida: Cynodontia) in southern Africa
Date
2005
Authors
Battail, Bernard
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Abstract
Scalenodontoides macrodontes was described in 1957 by Crompton & Ellenberger as a new genus and species of the family
Traversodontidae. For many years it was known only by its type specimen, a lower jaw from the Upper Triassic of Lesotho. The specimen
was redescribed in more detail by Hopson in 1984, who established the close affinities of Scalenodontoides with Exaeretodon. In 1993,
Gow & Hancox described the first skull of Scalenodontoides, discovered, together with fragmentary remains, in South Africa. The skull
from South Africa looked very much like a skull from Lesotho, housed in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, and initially
attributed, in an unpublished work, to the chiniquodontid Belesodon (Costedoat, 1962). Further preparation of the skull from Lesotho
was carried out; the specimen proved not to belong to a chiniquodontid, but to a large traversodontid, described in this paper. A revision
of the traversodont remains known from the Late Triassic lower Elliot Formation of Lesotho and South Africa leads to the conclusion
that they can all be attributed to the species Scalenodontoides macrodontes. Detailed comparisons between Scalenodontoides and
Exaeretodon confirm Scalenodontoides as a valid genus, with only one species, Scalenodontoides macrodontes. A new diagnosis of
Scalenodontoides macrodontes, based on an analysis of all available material, is given.