Falcatodon ("curved tooth") is an extinct genus of Hyainailouridae Hyaenodonta of the subfamily Hyainailourinae, from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) of the Faiyum Oasis depression in Egypt.
Description
Morales and Pickford (2017, p. 344) diagnose
Falcatodon as follows: "Medium sized Hyainailourinae, differing from
Metapterodon by the reduction of the protocone in the upper molars (M1 – M2), which is located in a very anterior position. It differs from
Hyainailouros by the more sectorial morphology of the upper molars, with more advanced fusion of the paracone-metacone with, nevertheless, a groove separating the cusps visible in the M1. Lower molars sectorial with reduced talonid and without a metaconid. It differs from
Isohyaenodon,
Sectisodon and
Exiguodon, by the lesser reduction of the protocone in the upper molars which, above all, retain a stretched out subtriangular occlusal outline."
Classification and phylogeny
Taxonomy
Falcatodon was originally described as a new species of
Metapterodon,
M. schlosseri by Holroyd (1999), who nonetheless recognized that Eocene and Oligocene hyainailourids he assigned to
Metapterodon might prove generically distinct. Subsequent study demonstrated that
Falcatodon is not only distinct from
Metapterodon but also closely related to
Isohyaenodon.
