Abdounodus

Abdounodus Temporal range: Paleocene
A. hamdii lower jaw
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Superorder:	Afrotheria
Clade:	Paenungulatomorpha
Genus:	†Abdounodus Gheerbrant & Sudre, 2001
Species:	†A. hamdii
Binomial name
†Abdounodus hamdii Gheerbrant et al., 2001

Abdounodus ("Abdoun tooth") is an extinct genus of mammal known from the middle Paleocene of Northern Africa. The sole species, A. hamdii, is known from teeth and jaw bones discovered in the Ouled Abdoun Basin of present-day Morocco in 2001.

Discovery and naming

Discovery

The holotype of Abdounodus hamdii MNHN 21 was collected in French fossil markets. It consists of a left mandible and teeth. A study in 2016 described new material that included the maxillary and upper dentition.

Naming

The generic name combines Abdoun referring to the place of origin and odus meaning tooth. The specific name hamdii is named after M. Mohamed Hamdi, who was an active supporter for paleontological research in the region.

Description

Abdounotus has dentition similar of that mioclaenids, but is differentiated by features such as the talonid being short and narrow, the posfossid being weakly excavated, the entoconid being quite large, lack of cingula, and a small and a inflated  hypocounlid. The upper molars are noticeably bunodont with a inflated crown and bulbous cusps, and have 3 roots. There also features that support a meatconule-dervived pseudohypocone such as a absence of other conules aside from the metaconule-pseudohypocone.

Classification

In a study in 2016 it was classified as a basal afrothere It was hypothesized that Abdounodus and Ocepeia are transitional lophodont stem paenugulates. In the same study the authors erected a new clade called Paenungulatomorpha.

Paleobiology

Diet

Abdounodus would’ve likely ate hard and abrasive plants as its jaw and tooth  remains show it would’ve likely had a strong crushing motion.