''Scalenodontoides'' is an extinct genus of

traversodontidae Traversodontidae is an extinct family of herbivorous cynodonts. Traversodonts were primarily Gondwanan, with many species known from Africa and South America. Recently, traversodonts have also been found from Europe and eastern North America. Tra ...

, a family of herbivorous

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 ...

. It lived during the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...

in what is now

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 ...

. Its type species is ''Scalenodontoides macrodontes''. It was named in 1957 by A. W. Crompton and F. Ellenberger. '' Arctotraversodon plemmyrodon'' was originally classified as a species of ''Scalenodontoides'', but was given its own genus in 1992. It is found in the ''Scalenodontoides'' Assemblage Zone of the

Elliot Formation The Elliot Formation is a geological formation and forms part of the Stormberg Group, the uppermost geological Stratigraphic unit, group that comprises the greater Karoo Supergroup. Outcrops of the Elliot Formation have been found in the northern ...

, which is named for it. It is one of the geologically youngest traversodontids, alongside the putative traversodontid '' Boreogomphodon''. It is closely related to ''

Exaeretodon ''Exaeretodon'' is an extinct genus of fairly large, low-slung traversodontid cynodonts from the southern parts of Pangea. Four species are known, from various formations. ''E. argentinus'' is from the Carnian-age (Late Triassic) Cancha de Boch ...

'' and '' Siriusgnathus'', but is distinguished by the presence of a shelf-like expansion of its parietal called the nuchal table. Though the largest known complete skull is only long, it may have been the largest non-mammaliaform cynodont, as an incomplete snout would have belonged to a specimen with an estimated skull length of .

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * Traversodontids Prehistoric cynodont genera Late Triassic synapsids {{Triassic-animal-stub