"Amynodon" sinensis

Amynodon sinensis was described by Otto Zdansky in 1930, based on fossils found in Late Eocene strata in Henan, China. The relatively fragmentary fossils In 1965, Zhou Mingzhen and Xu Yu-Xuan referred A. sinensis to the genus Sianodon, as S. sinensis. Zhou and Xu revised the diagnosis of S. sinensis and referred additional fossil material to the species, including two fossils from the same locality as Zdansky's type specimen: a right maxilla preserving P4–M3 (the fourth premolar to third molar; V.3018), a lower jaw fragment that preserves M2 and M3 (V.3018.1). Averianov et al. further suggested that three fragmentary species of Sianodon found in Henan—S. chiyuanensis, S. honanensis, and S. mienchiensis—could represent primitive amynodonts and possibly the same animal as "A". sinensis. == Description ==

"A". sinensis was probably relatively similar to the North American Amynodon advenus. It is clearly distinguished by its very small size; at just 127 ± 15 kg (280 ± 33 lbs) it is the smallest known amynodont. "A". sinensis had the dental formula . == Classification ==

"A". sinensis occupies an important phylogenetic position as one of the most primitive amynodonts known from Asia. The cladogram below presents amynodont relations per the phylogenetic analysis of Averianov et al.: == References ==