Synoplotherium

Synoplotherium (synonym Dromocyon) is an extinct genus of relatively small, wolf-like mesonychids that lived 50 million years ago, in what is now Wyoming.

Synoplotherium lanius

Restoration by Robert Bruce Horsfall

Synoplotherium Temporal range: Eocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Synoplotherium lanius skeleton on display at the Peabody Museum of Natural History (holotype of Dromocyon vorax).
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Mesonychia
Family:	†Mesonychidae
Genus:	†Synoplotherium Cope, 1872
Type species
†Synoplotherium lanius Cope, 1872
Synonyms
Dromocyon vorax Marsh, 1876

Synoplotherium coexisted with its larger relative, Mesonyx. Very little else remains known about this mesonychid since its discovery in 1875.^[1]

Pathology

The specimen of Synoplotherium on display at the Peabody Museum of Natural History has a fractured lower jaw. The jaw is cracked right at the midpoint and shows signs of healing. Evidence in the form of its worn down teeth show the animal survived to old age.^[1]