REWACONODON INDICUS

REWACONODON INDICUS

Subject : Environment

Context : The Tiki Formation in Madhya Pradesh, a treasure trove of vertebrate fossils, has now yielded a new species and two genera of cynodonts, small rat-like animals that lived about 220 million years ago.

Concept :

• The researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, used scanning electron microscopy to study about 10 teeth samples collected from the village of Tihki in Shahdol District, Madhya Pradesh.
• The results showed that they had found a new species, and they named it Rewaconodonindicus, indicating India, the country it was discovered from.
• The team also identified two new genera from the area. The first was named Inditheriumfloris, after India and the Latin word therium meaning beast. As the teeth had a flower-shaped crown, it earned the species name floris.
• The second was named Tikiodoncromptoni, after Tiki Formation and Greek word odon meaning tooth. The species name is after paleontologist A.W. Crompton.