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Description
Thrinaxodon was a genus that belonged to the non-mammalian cynodonts, and lived 251-245/25 million years ago, during the Permian-Triassic extinction event until some time in the early Triassic. It is hypothesised that the species was able to survive the Permian-Triassic extinction event, or, the Great Dying, due to its burrowing nature, with evidence of burrowing being present as early as 251 mya. The first specimen was found in the Beaufort group, one of the various subdivisions of the Karoo supergroup in the Karoo, South Africa. It most likely lived in woodland/forest habitats.

Theracophalia is the suborder that contains Eutheriodonta, the clade that includes theracophalians and cynodonta. (Eutheriodonta can be further divided into Charassognathus, and epicynodintia, the clade which houses cynodont therapsids). Cynodonta is the genus that houses Thrinaxodon. Thrinaxodon liorhinus is the type species of Thrinaxodon.

It is evidenced by various research papers that Thrinaxodon had a pineal or parietal eye, due to the fact that early therapsid skulls have what is known as a parietal foramen. There is also no evidence to suggest that Thrinaxodon had any furry coating, or whiskers, for that matter, with later genera being more likely to have had fur and whiskers.

Please message me for any other fascinating facts that you are aware of regarding Thrinaxodon, that I should mention! Please note, my understanding of phylogeny is limited, and I’m trying my very best to learn it. I don’t think I’ll be studying phylogenetics any time soon… I would get too overwhelmed! Inspired by Julien Benoit’s ‘THRINAKS’ project. There are a number of anatomical errors present in this illustration, I am sure of that, but it was still fun to illustrate. I am redrawing a more “skeletally accurate” version.

For further reading:
- www.app.pan.pl/archive/publish…
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…

- anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wile…
- reptileevolution.com/basal-the…
- pterosaurheresies.wordpress.co…
- www.app.pan.pl/archive/publish…

Please send me more reading material if I have missed any fascinating articles and papers!

Story behind this piece:

On an early morning, in a dry river bed in Triassic Karoo, two Thrinaxodon individuals emerge to enjoy the warm sun as it coats the land in its radiating glow. The air is dry and cool, and the wind blows through the trees on the other side of the embankment, waking the animals that hide in the shrubbery and canopies of the nearby woodlands.

Done on Procreate.

Description
Thrinaxodon was a genus that belonged to the non-mammalian cynodonts, and lived 251-245/25 million years ago, during the Permian-Triassic extinction event until some time in the early Triassic. It is hypothesised that the species was able to survive the Permian-Triassic extinction event, or, the Great Dying, due to its burrowing nature, with evidence of burrowing being present as early as 251 mya. The first specimen was found in the Beaufort group, one of the various subdivisions of the Karoo supergroup in the Karoo, South Africa. It most likely lived in woodland/forest habitats.

Theracophalia is the suborder that contains Eutheriodonta, the clade that includes theracophalians and cynodonta. (Eutheriodonta can be further divided into Charassognathus, and epicynodintia, the clade which houses cynodont therapsids). Cynodonta is the genus that houses Thrinaxodon. Thrinaxodon liorhinus is the type species of Thrinaxodon.

It is evidenced by various research papers that Thrinaxodon had a pineal or parietal eye, due to the fact that early therapsid skulls have what is known as a parietal foramen. There is also no evidence to suggest that Thrinaxodon had any furry coating, or whiskers, for that matter, with later genera being more likely to have had fur and whiskers.

Please message me for any other fascinating facts that you are aware of regarding Thrinaxodon, that I should mention! Please note, my understanding of phylogeny is limited, and I’m trying my very best to learn it. I don’t think I’ll be studying phylogenetics any time soon… I would get too overwhelmed! Inspired by Julien Benoit’s ‘THRINAKS’ project. There are a number of anatomical errors present in this illustration, I am sure of that, but it was still fun to illustrate. I am redrawing a more “skeletally accurate” version.

For further reading:
- www.app.pan.pl/archive/publish…
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…

- anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wile…
- reptileevolution.com/basal-the…
- pterosaurheresies.wordpress.co…
- www.app.pan.pl/archive/publish…

Please send me more reading material if I have missed any fascinating articles and papers!

Story behind this piece:

On an early morning, in a dry river bed in Triassic Karoo, two Thrinaxodon individuals emerge to enjoy the warm sun as it coats the land in its radiating glow. The air is dry and cool, and the wind blows through the trees on the other side of the embankment, waking the animals that hide in the shrubbery and canopies of the nearby woodlands.

Done on Procreate.