''Menadon'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of traversodontid

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. The type and only species is ''Menadon besairiei''. Fossils of ''Menadon'' were first found in

Isalo II Isalo II, also known as the Makay Formation, is an informal Triassic geological unit in Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de ...

(the Makay Formation) of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, which preserves sediments from the Middle to Late Triassic period. They have also been recovered from the Santa Maria Formation of the Paraná Basin near

Santa Cruz do Sul Santa Cruz do Sul () is a city in central Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The city has an estimate 131,000 inhabitants as of 2020 and sits about 150 km (93 miles) from the capital city of the state, Porto Alegre. The city enjoys a high standard ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. ''Menadon'' was unique among non-mammalian synapsids for the presence of hypsodont (high-crowned) postcanine teeth. Hypsodont teeth grow continuously to counteract high wear caused by a diet of abrasive plant material. ''Menadon'''s teeth convergently resemble those of hypsodont xenarthrans such as

sloth Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their li ...

s and

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

s, due to their column-like form and

dentin Dentin () (American English) or dentine ( or ) (British English) ( la, substantia eburnea) is a calcified tissue of the body and, along with enamel, cementum, and pulp, is one of the four major components of teeth. It is usually covered by ena ...

e which grows from the crown towards the root.

References

Traversodontids Prehistoric cynodont genera Middle Triassic synapsids Late Triassic synapsids Carnian genera Middle Triassic synapsids of Africa Fossils of Madagascar Triassic Madagascar Late Triassic synapsids of South America Triassic Brazil Fossils of Brazil Santa Maria Formation Fossil taxa described in 2000 {{paleo-therapsid-stub