Crossword clues for cynodont
cynodont
The Collaborative International Dictionary
cynodont \cynodont\ n. any member of the Cynodontia, a group of small carnivorous reptiles.
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.
WordNet
n. small carnivorous reptiles
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 cynodonts spread throughout southern Gondwana and are represented by fossils from South America, Africa, India, and Antarctica. In the northern continents, fossils have been found in eastern North America as well as in Belgium and northwestern France. Cynodontia is one of the most diverse groups of therapsids.
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.