Sarkastodon

Sarkastodon ("meaty tooth") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from the extinct subfamily Oxyaeninae within the extinct family Oxyaenidae. The genus lived in Asia (in today's China and Mongolia) during the middle Eocene.^[1] It was a genus of large, carnivorous animals known only from a skull and jawbones. Sarkastodon was probably a hypercarnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Middle Eocene, such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses.

Sarkastodon Temporal range: 45.0–39.9 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Middle Eocene
Reconstruction of Sarkastodon mongoliensis
Skull reconstructions of Sarkastodon mongoliensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Oxyaenodonta
Family:	†Oxyaenidae
Subfamily:	†Oxyaeninae
Genus:	†Sarkastodon Granger, 1938[1]
Type species
†Sarkastodon mongoliensis Granger, 1938[1]
Species
†Sarkastodon henanensis (Tong & Lei, 1986)[2] †Sarkastodon mongoliensis (Granger, 1938)

Description

The weight of Sarkastodon mongoliensis is estimated at 800 kg (1,800 lb),^[3] and it measured approximately 3 m (10 ft) in length.^[4]

Discovery

The type specimens of S. mongoliensis are known from Eocene deposits from the Irdin Manha Formation of Mongolia. Additional material referred to Sarkastodon is known from the Ulan Shireh beds (160 kilometres or 100 miles from the holotype locality) of Inner Mongolia. These specimens were discovered by Walter W. Granger in 1930, on an expedition to the Gobi Desert.^[1]

Palaeobiology

Sarkastodon was a hypercarnivore, with hyaena-like dentition specialised in bone-cracking.^[5][6] The Hunter-Schreger bands of S. mongoliensis are zigzag; this anatomical trait correlates well with osteophagous dietary habits.^[7] The sharp, slicing premolars, which form roughly rectilinear cutting blades,^[8] and crushing molars enabled Sarkastodon to eat both bone and flesh.^[9] It was probably an ambush predator, not a fast runner.^[4]