Turfanodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian Sunan, Guodikeng, and Naobaogou Formations of China. The holotype of T. bogdaensis was discovered between 1963-1964 and was originally named in 1973 by A. Sun with the type species Turfanodon bogdaensis,[1] Turfanodon was reclassified as a junior synonym of the related Dicynodon in 1988 by G. M. King.[2] T. bogdaensis remained a species of Dicynodon for over two decades before the genus was reinstated in 2011 in a revision of the taxonomy of Dicynodon by palaeontologist Christian Kammerer. A second species from Inner Mongolia, T. jiufengensis, was named in 2021 by palaeontologist Jun Liu from a nearly complete skeleton and other referred bones. Turfanodon was a relatively large dicynodont, and similar in appearance to the related Daptocephalus from South Africa.[3][4]

Turfanodon
Temporal range: Late Permian
~254–252.3 Ma
Holotype specimen of T. jiufengensis (IVPP V 26038)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Clade: Bidentalia
Infraorder: Dicynodontoidea
Genus: Turfanodon
Sun, 1973
Type species
Turfanodon bogdaensis
Sun, 1973
Other species
  • T. jiufengensis Liu, 2021
Synonyms

T. bogdaensis:

  • Dicynodon bogdaensis King, 1988
  • Dicynodon sunanensis Li, Cheng, and Li, 2000
  • Striodon magnus Sun, 1978
Life restoration

References

edit
  1. ^ A.-l. Sun. 1973. [Permo-Triassic dicynodonts from Turfan, Sinkiang]. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (I): Permo-Triassic Vertebrate Fossils of Turfan Basin. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Academia Sinica 10:53-68
  2. ^ King, G. M. (1988). "Anomodontia". Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag.
  3. ^ Kammerer, C.F.; Angielczyk, K.D.; Fröbisch, J. (2011). "A comprehensive taxonomic revision of Dicynodon (Therapsida, Anomodontia) and its implications for dicynodont phylogeny, biogeography, and biostratigraphy". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (Suppl. 1): 1–158. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31S...1K. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.627074. S2CID 84987497.
  4. ^ Liu, J. (2021). "The tetrapod fauna of the upper Permian Naobaogou Formation of China: 6. Turfanodon jiufengensis sp. nov. (Dicynodontia)". PeerJ. 9 (e10854): e10854. doi:10.7717/peerj.10854. PMC 7896508. PMID 33643709.