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
Temporal range: Eocene
Synoplotherium vorax skeleton, Yale.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Mesonychia
Family: Mesonychidae
Genus: Synoplotherium
Cope, 1872
Type species
Synoplotherium vorax
Cope, 1872
Synonyms
  • Dromocyon Marsh, 1876
Synoplotherium vorax
Restoration by Robert Bruce Horsfall

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

Pathology

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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]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Yale's Mysterious Fossil Beast".