''Storchodon'' is an extinct genus of

morganucodont Morganucodonta ("Glamorgan teeth") is an extinct order of basal Mammaliaformes, a group including crown-group mammals (Mammalia) and their close relatives. Their remains have been found in Southern Africa, Western Europe, North America, India and ...

mammaliaform Mammaliaformes ("mammalian forms") is a clade that contains the crown group mammals and their closest extinct relatives; the group radiated from earlier probainognathian cynodonts. It is defined as the clade originating from the most recent com ...

s from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

(

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...

) of Germany. Its only species is ''Storchodon cingulatus'', which is known exclusively from a single upper molar found at the

Süntel Formation The Süntel Formation, previously known as the Kimmeridge Formation (German language, German: ''"Mittlerer Kimmeridge"''; Middle Kimmeridge),Lallensack et al., 2015, p.4 is a geological formation in Germany. It is Late Jurassic in age, spanning the ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Etymology

The generic name ''Storchodon'' honours the German palaeontologist Gerhard Storch, whereas the specific epithet ''cingulatus'' is a reference to the prominent cingulum of the molar.

Description

''Storchodon'' was large for a morganucodont; the holotype molar has a length of , which among morganucodonts is exceeded only by the holotype of '' Paceyodon davidi''. This large size may be a case of

insular gigantism Island gigantism, or insular gigantism, is a biological phenomenon in which the size of an animal species isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to its mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general Fos ...

. As in other morganucodonts, the molar has a triconodont shape, with the three main cusps A, B and C being set in a straight line. Cusp D is relatively large, and unlike in for example ''

Morganucodon ''Morganucodon'' (" Glamorgan tooth") is an early mammaliaform genus that lived from the Late Triassic to the Middle Jurassic. It first appeared about 205 million years ago. Unlike many other early mammaliaforms, ''Morganucodon'' is well represe ...

'', it is placed at an oblique angle relative to the main cusps.

References

Morganucodonts Prehistoric cynodont genera Kimmeridgian life Jurassic synapsids of Europe Jurassic Germany Fossils of Germany Fossil taxa described in 2019 Taxa named by Alexander O. Averianov Taxa named by Thomas Martin (paleontologist) {{Paleo-therapsid-stub