The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 08 (of 10)Gadow, Hans
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 08 (of 10)
Gadow, Hans
Animals
_Endothiodon_, with several species from the Karroo formation, is of
uncertain systematic position, only imperfect skulls being known. The
animals must have been large and bulky, the skulls being very massive and
at least one foot in length. The premaxillaries and the maxillaries are
toothless, their alveolar borders forming cutting, prominent edges. The
same applies to the very strong lower jaw; but there is a pair of
tooth-like stout projections in the upper and lower jaws in the place of
canine teeth. True, enamelled, small, apparently conical or low and perhaps
blunt teeth occur on either side in one or three longitudinal series upon
the palate, and in corresponding positions on the inner sides of the two
halves of the lower jaw. It is doubtful if the upper teeth are carried by
the palatines or by the broadened inner flanges of the maxillaries. The
choanae seem to lie between the pterygoids and the palatines, incompletely
roofed in by ventral extensions of the latter towards the middle line.
{308}Direct affinity of _Endothiodon_ (ἐνδοθί, within) with _Placodus_ is
unlikely; the same applies to the Dicynodontia, although the restriction of
the teeth to the palate seems to point as much to the former genus as do
the toothless cutting edges of the jaws to the forms like _Oudenodon_.
Other Theriodont reptiles have been described from the upper Permian of
Russia, for instance _Deuterosaurus_ and _Brithopus_, but the determination
rests upon insufficient fragments. North America has yielded many strange
Theromorphous fossils, some of which may belong to the Theriodont order,
while others seem to be intermediate between this and the other orders.
_Diadectes_ of Texas, for instance, seems to be a Theriodont creature;
while in _Empedias molaris_, with a skull about 8 inches in length, the
teeth form an uninterrupted series without distinct canine tusks, and the
incisors are distinguished from the molars only by the transversely
broadened shape of the latter. Very small teeth are arranged along the
median line of the vomer and united palatine bones. In _Clepsydrops_,
_Dimetrodon_, and _Naosaurus_ of Texas the teeth are differentiated into
incisors, canines, and molars, although not so regularly as in the typical
Theriodont forms described above, one or more pairs of teeth being enlarged
into canine-like tusks. In the latter two genera the spinous processes of
the thoracic vertebrae are enormously elongated, standing up vertically to
a height of 2 feet, while the centra of the vertebrae measure only one inch
in diameter. In _Naosaurus claviger_ these upright spines carry on either
side half a dozen transverse projections. _Stereorhachis_ of the Permian of
France is typically Theriodont in the structure of its shoulder-girdle,
humerus, and pelvis, but the dentition is composed of 3/3 incisors, no
canines, and 6/10 pointed molars.
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