Griphodon
Extinct genus of mammals
Griphodon is an extinct genus of mammals, belonging to the order Pyrotheria. It lived during the Middle Eocene, in what is now Peru.
01Description
All that is known about this animal is a fragment of a mandible complete with teeth. Its teeth were two-crested, slightly more transversal than in other genera such as Carolozittelia, but there are indications of the presence of a longitudinal crest, and even, in the third premolar, of a complete crest, not found in Pyrotherium.
02Classification
Griphodon peruvianus was first described in 1924 by Anthony, who considered it to be a Perissodactyl. The fragmentary fossil was found near Chicoca, along the Huallaga River by J. G. Richards. Subsequently the genus was considered a basal member of the Pyrotheres, a mysterious clade of heavy-shaped mammals from the Early Cenozoic of South America, of uncertain affinities. Other fossils attributed to Griphodon were later found near Contamana in the Loreto Province of Peru.
03Paleoecology
Griphodon seems to have had a diet mainly composed of tough plants, which were crushed by its powerful crested teeth.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Griphodon”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Griphodon.jpg by Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 4.0
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