Falcatodon

Falcatodon; Temporal range: Early Oligocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Hyaenodonta
Family:	†Hyainailouridae
Genus:	†Falcatodon
Type species
	Metapterodon schlosseri;
Species
	F. schlosseri (Holroyd, 1999) (type);

Falcatodon is a genus of hyainailourid creodont from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) of the Fayum Depression in Egypt.

Description

Morales and Pickford (2017, p. 344) diagnose Falcatodon as follows: "Medium sized Hyainailourinae, differing from Metapterodon by the reduction of the protocone in the upper molars (M1 – M2), which is located in a very anterior position. It differs from Hyainailouros by the more sectorial morphology of the upper molars, with more advanced fusion of the paracone-metacone with, nevertheless, a groove separating the cusps visible in the M1. Lower molars sectorial with reduced talonid and without a metaconid. It differs from Isohyaenodon, Sectisodon and Exiguodon, by the lesser reduction of the protocone in the upper molars which, above all, retain a stretched out subtriangular occlusal outline."[1]

Taxonomy

Falcatodon was originally described as a new species of Metapterodon, M. schlosseri, by Holroyd (1999), who nonetheless recognized that Eocene and Oligocene hyainailourids he assigned to Metapterodon might prove generically distinct.[2] Subsequent study demonstrated that Falcatodon is not only distinct from Metapterodon but also closely related to Isohyaenodon.[1]

References

Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2017). "New hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) and Grillental (Namibia)". Fossil Imprint. 73 (3–4): 332–359. doi:10.2478/if-2017-0019.
Holroyd, P. A. (1999): New Pterodontinae (Creodonta: Hyaenodontidae) from the late Eocene–early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Province, Egypt. – PaleoBios, 19(2): 1–18.

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[Falcatodon-1] Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2017). "New hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) and Grillental (Namibia)". Fossil Imprint. 73 (3–4): 332–359. doi:10.2478/if-2017-0019.

[2] Holroyd, P. A. (1999): New Pterodontinae (Creodonta: Hyaenodontidae) from the late Eocene–early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Province, Egypt. – PaleoBios, 19(2): 1–18.