Scalenodontoides is an extinct genus of Traversodontidae, a family of herbivorous cynodonts. It lived during the Late Triassic in what is now South Africa. Its type species is Scalenodontoides macrodontes.[1] It was named in 1957 by A. W. Crompton and F. Ellenberger.[1]Arctotraversodon plemmyrodon was originally classified as a species of Scalenodontoides, but was given its own genus in 1992.[2] It is found in the Scalenodontoides Assemblage Zone of the Elliot Formation, which is named for it.[3] It is one of the geologically youngest traversodontids, alongside the putative traversodontid Boreogomphodon.[4] It is closely related to Exaeretodon and Siriusgnathus,[5] but is distinguished by the presence of a shelf-like expansion of its parietal called the nuchal table.[6] Though the largest known complete skull is only 248 millimetres (9.8 in) long, it may have been the largest non-mammalian cynodont, as an incomplete snout would have belonged to a specimen with an estimated skull length of 617 millimetres (24.3 in).[7]
Crompton, A W; Ellenberger, F (1957). "On a new cynodont from the Molteno beds and the origin of the Tritylodontids". Annals of the South African Museum. 44: 1–14.
Gow, C. E.; Hancox, P. J. (1993). "First complete skull of the Late Triassic Scalenodontoides (Reptilia Cynodontia) from southern Africa". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 3: 161–168.
