Tricuspes

Tricuspes
Temporal occurrence
	Upper Triassic ( Rhaetium )
	208.5 to 201.3 million years
Locations
	Baden-Württemberg , Germany ( Gaisbrunnen quarry near Tübingen - Bebenhausen ); Saint-Nicolas-de-Port , France; Canton of Schaffhausen , Switzerland ( Hallau );
Systematics
	Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
	Synapsids (Synapsida)
	Therapsids (Therapsida)
	Theriodontia
	Cynodontia
	Tricuspes
Scientific name
	Tricuspes
	E. von Huene , 1933

Tricuspes is an extinct genus of the Cynodontia from the Upper Triassic ( Rhaetium ) of Europe. So far, only isolated teeth are known from various sites in Germany ( Baden-Württemberg ), France ( Saint-Nicolas-de-Port ) and Switzerland ( Canton Schaffhausen ). The systematic position of this genus is unclear. It is either an early representative of the mammals (Mammalia) or a cynodontal animal closely related to the mammals. The genus Dromatheriidae was oftenascribed to a group of the Cynodontia, which many researchers today consider to be paraphyletic and therefore invalid.

So far, three species of this genus have been described: The type species Tricuspes tubingensis ( Erika von Huene , 1933), Tricuspes sigogneauae (Hahn et al. , 1994) and Tricuspes tapeinodon (Godefroit and Battail, 1997).

features

The genus is known from molars . The tooth crowns are usually between 2 and 3 millimeters long and between 1 and 2 millimeters high. They consist of three to four tips ( tricuspate or tetracuspate ), which are arranged in a V-shape against each other. The tooth root is divided into two along its entire length, with both parts lying close together.

Individual evidence

^ William A. Clemens: Rhaeto-Liasic Mammals from Switzerland and West Germany. Zitteliana, Treatises of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology. Volume 5, pp. 51-92, Munich 1980.
^ ^A ^b ^c Godefroit P. & Battail B. 1997. Late Triassic cynodonts from Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (north-eastern France). Geodiversitas 19 (3): 567-631.
^ ^A ^b Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli and Zhe-Xi Luo: Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure New York: Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 186.

[clemens_1980-1] William A. Clemens: Rhaeto-Liasic Mammals from Switzerland and West Germany. Zitteliana, Treatises of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology. Volume 5, pp. 51-92, Munich 1980.

[godefroit_97-2] A ^b ^c Godefroit P. & Battail B. 1997. Late Triassic cynodonts from Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (north-eastern France). Geodiversitas 19 (3): 567-631.

[jaworowska04-3] A ^b Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli and Zhe-Xi Luo: Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure New York: Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 186.