Lesson plan
Prodicynodon
Prodicynodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Late Permian of South Africa. Two species are known, the type species P. pearstonensis and P. beaufortensis, both known only from their respective holotypes. The holotypes of both Prodicynodon species are small, and some authors have considered Prodicynodon either a senior synonym of Chelydontops or a juvenile Endothiodon. However, in a 2014 abstract for the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Christian Kammerer and colleagues considered Prodicynodon a valid genus closely related to Therochelonia based on CT scanning and unpublished phylogenetic results, even while agreeing with King (1988) that the Prodicynodon specimens were juvenile.
Article summary
Prodicynodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Late Permian of South Africa. Two species are known, the type species P. pearstonensis and P. beaufortensis, both known only from their respective holotypes. The holotypes of both Prodicynodon species are small, and some authors have considered Prodicynodon either a senior synonym of Chelydontops or a juvenile Endothiodon. However, in a 2014 abstract for the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Christian Kammerer and colleagues considered Prodicynodon a valid genus closely related to Therochelonia based on CT scanning and unpublished phylogenetic results, even while agreeing with King (1988) that the Prodicynodon specimens were juvenile.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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