Sarkastodon

Sarkastodon ("meaty tooth") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Oxyaeninae within extinct family Oxyaenidae, that lived in Asia (in today's China and Mongolia) during the middle Eocene.[1] It was a genus of large, carnivorous animals known only from a skull and jawbones. Sarkastodon was probably a hypercarnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Middle Eocene, such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses. Its weight is estimated at 800 kg (1,800 lb),[3] and its length at 3 m (10 ft).[4]

Sarkastodon
Temporal range: Middle Eocene
Reconstruction of Sarkastodon mongoliensis
Skull reconstructions of Sarkastodon mongolensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Oxyaenodonta
Family: †Oxyaenidae
Subfamily: †Oxyaeninae
Genus: †Sarkastodon
Granger, 1938[1]
Type species
†Sarkastodon mongoliensis
Granger, 1938[1]
Species
  • †Sarkastodon henanensis (Tong & Lei, 1986)[2]
  • †Sarkastodon mongoliensis (Granger, 1938)

Discovery

The type specimens of S. mongoliensis are known from Eocene deposits from the Irdin Manha Formation of Mongolia. Additional material referred to Sarkastodon is known from the Ulan Shireb beds (160 kilometres or 100 miles from the holotype locality) of Inner Mongolia. These specimens were discovered by Walter W. Granger in 1930, on an expedition to the Gobi Desert.[1]

Palaeobiology

Sarkastodon was a hypercarnivore, with hyaena-like dentition specialised in bone-cracking.[5][6] The sharp, slicing premolars (which form roughly rectilinear cutting blades)[7] and crushing molars enabled Sarkastodon to eat both bone and flesh.[8] It was probably an ambush predator, not a fast runner.[4]

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of genus Sarkastodon are shown in the following cladogram.[9][10][11][12]

 Pan-Carnivora 
 †Hyaenodonta 

†Altacreodus

†Tinerhodon

 ? 

†Wyolestidae

 ? 

†Simidectes

†Hyaenodonta (sensu stricto)

 sensu lato 

Carnivoramorpha

 †Oxyaenodonta 
 †Oxyaenidae 

†Tytthaeninae 

†Machaeroidinae

†Palaeonictinae

 †Oxyaeninae 

†Dipsalidictis aequidens

†Dipsalidictis krausei

†Dipsalidictis platypus

†Dipsalidictis transiens

 ? 

†Argillotherium

†Oxyaena

†Malfelis

†Patriofelis

†Protopsalis

 †Sarkastodon 

†Sarkastodon henanensis

†Sarkastodon mongoliensis
†Altacreodus/Tinerhodon
clade
†Dipsalidictis

See also

References
  1. Granger, W. (1938.) "A giant oxyaenid from the upper Eocene of Mongolia." American Museum Novitates 969.
  2. Y. Tong and Y. Lei (1986.) "Fossil Creodonts and Carnivores (Mammalia) from the Hetaoyuan Eocene of Henan." Vertebrata PalAsiatica 24(3):210-221
  3. Sorkin, B. (2008). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators". Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x.
  4. Prothero, Donald R. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals. Princeton University Press. p. 125. ISBN 9781400884452.
  5. Rose KD. (2006.) The Beginning of the Age of Mammals. JHU Press: page 122
  6. Werdelin, L. (1989). "Constraints and adaptations in the bone-cracking canid Osteoborus (Mammalia: Canidae)". Paleobiology. 15 (4): 387–401. doi:10.1017/S009483730000957X. S2CID 82128868.
  7. Muizon, C. de; Lange-Badré, B. (2007). "Carnivorous dental adaptations in tribosphenic mammals and phylogenetic reconstruction". Lethaia. 30 (4): 353–366. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1997.tb00481.x.
  8. Gunnell, GF. (1998.) "Creodonta", p. 91-109. In: Janis CM., Scott K.M., and Jacobs LL. (eds.). Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  9. Gunnel, Gregg F.; Gingerich, Philip D. (1991). "Systematics and evolution of late Paleocene and early Eocene Oxyaenidae (Mammalia, Creodonta) in the Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology. The University of Michigan. 28 (7): 141–180.
  10. Solé, F. & Ladevèze, S. (2017.) "Evolution of the hypercarnivorous dentition in mammals (Metatheria, Eutheria) and its bearing on the development of tribosphenic molars." Evolution & Development, 19(2), 56–68.
  11. Prevosti, F. J. & Forasiepi, A. M. (2018.) "Introduction. Evolution of South American Mammalian Predators During the Cenozoic: Paleobiogeographic and Paleoenvironmental Contingencies"
  12. Shawn P. Zack (2019). "A skeleton of a Uintan machaeroidine 'creodont' and the phylogeny of carnivorous eutherian mammals". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 17 (8): 653–689. doi:10.1080/14772019.2018.1466374. S2CID 89934728.
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