Thrinaxodon

Palaeontologist Christian Sidor of the University of Washington thinks the den belonged to Thrinaxodon, a small badger-like reptile closely related to mammals.

Pre-dinosaur era burrow discovered in Antarctica « Isegoria 2008

I read "Tetrapod burrows from the Triassic of Antarctica," which demonstrates that fossil burrows found at Wahl Glacier in the Beardmore Glacier region of the central Transantarctic Mountains (Lovecraft's "Mountains of Madness") were made by an animal similar to the cynodont Thrinaxodon.

Halloween the Fourth greygirlbeast 2008

Despite the absence of fossil bones, the burrows' relatively small size prompted Sidor to speculate that their owners might have been small lizardlike reptiles called Procolophonids or an early mammal relative called Thrinaxodon.

Scientists find 245 million-year-old burrows of land vertebrates in Antarctica ReBecca Foster 2008

Despite the absence of fossil bones, the burrows' relatively small size prompted Sidor to speculate that their owners might have been small lizardlike reptiles called Procolophonids or an early mammal relative called Thrinaxodon.

Archive 2008-06-01 ReBecca Foster 2008

Now, luckily, this Thrinaxodon, the size of a robin egg here: this is a skull I've discovered just before taking this picture -- there's a pen for scale; it's really tiny -- this is in the Lower Triassic, after the mass extinction has finished.

Peter Ward on mass extinctions Peter Ward 2008

Now, luckily, this Thrinaxodon, the size of a robin egg here: this is a skull I've discovered just before taking this picture -- there's a pen for scale; it's really tiny -- this is in the Lower Triassic, after the mass extinction has finished.

Peter Ward on mass extinctions Peter Ward 2008

This is Thrinaxodon, an extinct relative of mammals from the Triassic.

Mesozoic 2008

Now, luckily, this Thrinaxodon, the size of a robin egg here: this is a skull I've discovered just before taking this picture -- there's a pen for scale; it's really tiny -- this is in the Lower Triassic, after the mass extinction has finished.

Peter Ward on mass extinctions Peter Ward 2008

The lumbar ribs, too, were very short; indeed in Thrinaxodon they were in the form of small flat plates, instead of being elongated ribs.

What a difference a day makes. - The Panda's Thumb 2006

In the genera Thrinaxodon and Cynognathus, for example, the vertebral column was distinctly differentiated into cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, thus delineating the three regions of the backbone in front of the pelvis so characteristic of the mammals.

What a difference a day makes. - The Panda's Thumb 2006