{"id":63921,"date":"2021-07-29T08:51:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T12:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&#038;p=63921"},"modified":"2021-07-29T08:51:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T12:51:35","slug":"giant-protomammal-snout-reveals-new-triassic-top-predator","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/giant-protomammal-snout-reveals-new-triassic-top-predator\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant protomammal snout reveals new Triassic top predator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Impidens-compared-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Impidens-compared_800.jpg\" alt=\"The snout of Impidens compared with the complete skull of its much smaller relative Trirachodon. Photo: Dr. Christian Kammerer.\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\">The snout of <em>Impidens<\/em> compared with the complete skull of its much smaller relative <em>Trirachodon<\/em>. Photo: Dr. Christian Kammerer\/NCMNS. Click to enlarge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>New research by scientists from the Evolutionary Studies Institute (Johannesburg, South Africa) and <a href=\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/staff\/christian-kammerer\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Christian Kammerer<\/a> (NCMNS Research Curator of Paleontology) has revealed the existence of a new species of giant, predatory cynodont. Cynodonts are a group of synapsids that include the ancestors of mammals, and were abundant and diverse in terrestrial ecosystems in the Triassic Period (~252\u2013200 million years ago), prior to dinosaurs becoming the dominant form of large-bodied vertebrate life on land.<\/p>\n<p>The new species, <em>Impidens hancoxi<\/em> (name meaning \u201cHancox\u2019s combat tooth\u201d, in reference to its powerful dentition and Dr. John Hancox, an expert on Triassic fossils), is known from a partial snout. This specimen was discovered in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, near the skull of another animal (<em>Ufudocyclops mukanelai<\/em>, a beaked plant-eater) previously described by Dr. Kammerer. The closest relatives of <em>Impidens<\/em> are rat-sized animals, but it would have been as big as a lion, making it the largest known meat-eater from its locality. At a time in the Triassic when reptiles (including the ancestors of dinosaurs and crocodiles) were increasingly occupying top predator roles, <em>Impidens<\/em> indicates that protomammals were still forces to be reckoned with in their habitats.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"cleardiv\" \/>\n<p><em>For more information about our upcoming activities, conservation news and ground-breaking research, follow @NaturalSciences on\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/naturalsciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/em><em>,\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/naturalsciences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/em><em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/naturalsciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a><\/em><em>.\u00a0Join the conversation with #visitNCMNS.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63943,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/63921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/63921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}