''Pachygenelus'' 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 ...

tritheledontid Tritheledontidae, the tritheledontids or ictidosaurs, is an extinct family of small to medium-sized (about 10 to 20 cm long) cynodonts. They were highly mammal-like, specialized cynodonts, although they still retained a few reptile-like ana ...

cynodonts 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 ...

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s have been found from the

Karoo basin The Karoo Supergroup is the most widespread stratigraphy, stratigraphic unit in Africa south of the Kalahari Desert. The group (stratigraphy), supergroup consists of a sequence of units, mostly of nonmarine origin, deposited between the Pennsylvan ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and date back to the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...

. ''Pachygenelus'' had both an

articular The articular bone is part of the lower jaw of most vertebrates, including most jawed fish, amphibians, birds and various kinds of reptiles, as well as ancestral mammals. Anatomy In most vertebrates, the articular bone is connected to two oth ...

- quadrate and

dentary In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

squamosal The squamosal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In fishes, it is also called the pterotic bone. In most tetrapods, the squamosal and quadratojugal The quadratojugal is a skull bone present in many vertebrates, including ...

jaw joint characteristic of ictidosaurs. Only

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s possess the dentary-squamosal articulation, while all other tetrapods possess the typical arcticular-quadrate articulation. Thus the jaw of ''Pachygenelus'' can be seen as transitional between non-mammalian synapsids and true mammals. Another feature of ''Pachygenelus'' that is shared with mammals is plesiomorphic prismatic enamel, or enamel arranged into strengthened prisms. The upper and lower tooth rows occluded with one another, although not as close as what is seen in true mammals. Wear facets are present on the lingual sides of the upper and external faces of the lower postcanines, and are seen as evidence for the occlusion. Despite all of the derived adaptation seen in its teeth, the dentition of ''Pachygenelus'' is believed to have been the least specialized of all tritheledontids. The genus was named in 1913 on the basis of a partial lower jaw found from South Africa, with the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

being named ''P. monus''. A new species, ''P. milleri'', was named in 1983 and distinguished from the type species in possessing an accessory posterior cusp on the lower postcanines. The use of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Tritheledontidae to include ''Pachygenelus'' and several other chiniquodontoids has been questioned, and it has been suggested that only ''

Tritheledon ''Tritheledon'' is an extinct genus of cynodonts that lived during the Lower Jurassic. Fossils were found in the Elliot Formation, South Africa. Like all cynodonts, it had many traits shared by mammals. Tritheledonts were probably insectivores, ...

'' meets the qualifications required for a true tritheledontid. The authors of the paper that first proposed the idea suggested that all other tritheledontids be reassigned to a new family called Pachygenelidae, named after ''Pachygenelus''.Bonaparte, J. F., Ferigolo, J. and Ribeiro, A. M. (2001). A primitive Late Triassic 'ictidosaur' from Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil. ''Palaeontology'' 44(4):623-635.

References

External links

''Pachygenelus''
in the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

Tritheledontidae Prehistoric cynodont genera Jurassic synapsids of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1913 {{paleo-therapsid-stub