''Bienotherium'' is an extinct genus of

cynodont The cynodonts () (clade Cynodontia) are a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Cynodonts had a wide variety ...

s from the Early Jurassic of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

discovered by Bian Meinian (Mei Nien Bien). Despite its size, it is closely related to ''

Lufengia ''Lufengia'' is an extinct genus of tritylodonts from the Sinemurian ( Early Jurassic) of Yunnan, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with ...

'', and is the largest

tritylodont Tritylodontidae ("three-knob teeth", named after the shape of their cheek teeth) is an extinct family of small to medium-sized, highly specialized mammal-like cynodonts, bearing several mammalian traits like erect limbs, endothermy and details ...

from the Lufeng Formation in China. ''Bienotherium'' had four incisors, no

canine Canine may refer to: Zoology and anatomy * a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae ** '' Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals ** Dog, the domestic dog * Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy People with the ...

s, and back molar-like teeth, which it used to chew tough plant material.

Description

''Bienotherium'' is defined as being big and robust compared to other tritylodonts, and also by exposed maxillaries in the skull, an unusually long diastema and thin zygomatic bone.

Description

References

Further reading