Named By: | Broom & Robinson in 1948 |
Time Period: | Late Permian - Early Triassic |
Location: | South Africa - Katberg Formation, Normandien Formation |
Size: | Unavailable |
Diet: | Carnivore |
Fossil(s): | Several individuals |
Classification: | | Chordata | Synapsida | Therapsida | Therocephalia | Lycideopidae | |
Tetracynodon is an extinct genus of therocephalian. Fossils of Tetracynodon have been found in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Two species are known: the type species T. tenuis from the Late Permian and the species T. darti from the Early Triassic. Both species were small-bodied and probably fed on insects and small vertebrates. Although Tetracynodon is more closely related to mammals than it is to reptiles, its braincase is very primitive and shares more in common with modern amphibians and reptiles than it does with mammals.