Yuanotherium


Yuanotherium minor is an extinct species of tritylodontid cynodonts which existed in China during the Late Jurassic epoch, described from the Shishugou Formation. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Yuanotherium.

Description

Y. minor is charactersed by a reduced maxilla, a trait unique not just among tritylodontids but among cynodonts at large. It also had an exceptionally large lacrimal.

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology

Y. minor is suggested to have been an omnivore rather than a herbivore.