Kuehneotherium praecursoris
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Family: Kuehneotheriidae
Genus: Kuehneotherium
Name: Kuehneotherium praecursoris
Age: Upper Triassic - 210 Million Years Old
Formation: Upper Triassic in-fillings of Carboniferous limestone fissures
Location: Pant Quarry, Nr. Bridgend, South Glamorgan, Wales, Great Britain
Kuehneotherium is a mammaliaform genus of symmetrodont that lived during the late Triassic period and is characterized by a reversed-triangle pattern of molar cusps. It is thought to be an insectivore that could consume only soft-bodied insects such as moths. Their teeth were shaped for vertical shearing and could not crush harder prey.
Kuehneotherium lived alongside another early mammal, Morganucodon, which had teeth that could crush harder insects such as beetles. This distinction in diet shows that early mammals adapted to have a separate feeding niche so they would not compete for food.
Kuehneotherium has tribosphenic teeth. A primitive mammalian tooth pattern that features three main cusps in the upper jaw and three main cusps in the lower jaw, along with a basin on the lower jaw
The following teeth are those presented in the Riker box. Each tooth is less than 1.0 mm in size.
Upper jaw
The three main cusps are the protocone, paracone, and metacone. The protocone is on the lingual side of the tooth, while the paracone and metacone are on the buccal side. The triangular area that includes these three cusps is called the trigon.
Lower jaw
The three main cusps are the paraconid, protoconid, and metaconid. These cusps form a trigonid, and behind the trigonid is a basin called the talonid basin. The talonid basin has three cusps: the hypoconid, hypoconulid, and entoconid.
Tribosphenic teeth are capable of both grinding and shearing and are thought to be a key to the early success of mammals. The pattern is still present in some mammals today, such as opossums.
Key to tooth figure:
1.Reptile
2.Cynodont
3. Eucynodont
4. Symmetrodont
5. Mammal
The synapsids were the dominant land animals in the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic, but the only group that survived into the Cenozoic are mammals.
Unlike other amniotes, synapsids have a single temporal fenestra, an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye orbit, leaving a bony arch beneath each. The distinctive temporal fenestra developed about 318 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period, when synapsids and sauropsids diverged.
Mammaliform teeth, mandibles and bones have been found in a number of Carboniferous limestone quarries where fissures have been in-filled with late Triassic sands. The following images indicate the location of the quarries and an example of how the in-filled fissures appear from within the one of the quarries.
