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Small carnivorous reptiles
Answer for the clue "Small carnivorous reptiles ", 8 letters:
cynodont
Word definitions for cynodont in dictionaries
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. small carnivorous reptiles
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. (context zoology English) Any of several small carnivorous synapsids in the clade (taxlink Cynodontia clade noshow=1), ancestral to mammals and extinct close relatives.
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
The cynodonts ("dog teeth"), in the clade Cynodontia , are therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 Ma ). The group includes modern mammals (including humans) as well as their extinct ancestors and close relatives. Nonmammalian ...
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
cynodont \cynodont\ n. any member of the Cynodontia, a group of small carnivorous reptiles.
Usage examples of cynodont.
The two of them rolled, crushing the young trees growing here, the cynodont squealing.
The cynodont was still struggling, but white bones showed in its ripped-open neck, and blood gushed.
In many parts of the world, fossils of dicynodonts have often been associated with those of carnivorous therapsids, like cynodonts, indicating a predator-prey relationship among the communities.
For paleontologists, cynodonts are among the most fascinating of fossils because they provide the evolutionary link between reptiles and mammals.
Some cynodonts, such as traversodonts and tritylodonts, evolved back to become herbivorous and were widely dispersed.
Tritylodonts were highly specialized cynodonts with molar-like cheek teeth showing multiple roots as in mammals.
These include animals called rhynchosaurs, cynodonts, and dicynodonts.
Cynodonts could not compete with thecodonts for food and were soon replaced by them.