Yunnanodon

Not to be confused with Yunnanozoon.

Yunnanodon Temporal range: Sinemurian, 196.0–189.0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	Cynodontia
Family:	†Tritylodontidae
Genus:	†Yunnanodon Cui, 1986
Species:	†Y. brevirostre
Binomial name
†Yunnanodon brevirostre Cui, 1976
Synonyms
Yunnania brevirostre Cui, 1976 (preoccupied)

Yunnanodon ("Yunnan tooth", from China's Yunnan province where it was discovered, and the Greek odon (ὀδών) meaning "tooth") is an extinct genus of tritylodontid mammaliamorphs that lived in China during the Sinemurian stage of the Early Jurassic period.^[1][2] Its specific name brevirostre is Latin for "short-beaked" (brevis ("short") + rostrum ("beak")).^[1]

Yunnanodon was discovered in the Lower Lufeng Series, in Yunnan Province, China.^[1] As a tritylodontid, it belongs to one of the few cynodont groups to survive the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. It was small, with adult skulls only reaching 36 to 47mm (1.4 to 1.8 inches) in length.^[3]

References

1. Cui (1976), Yunnania, a new tritylodont genus from Lufeng, Yunnan. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 25, p.1-7.
2. Cui (1986), Yunnanodon, a replacement name for Yunnania Cui, 1976. Gu Jizhui Dongwu yu Gu Renlei (Vertebr. PalAsiatica 24), p.9.
3. Luo, Zhexi. "The Inner Ear and Its Bony Housing in Tritylodontids and Implications for Evolution of the Mammalian Ear." Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 2002. Retrieved from http://www.archive.org