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Updated: Aug 3, 2025

Systematic Assessment of Mammalian Skull Specimens for Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology
Published on: August 22, 2022
Permodontodus waurikensis n. gen. n. sp., an Unusual Osteichthyan from Permian Oklahoma, USA
1Department of Geology and Geography, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA 01075. mmcmenam@mtholyoke.edu.
Abstract:
Permodontodus waurikensis n. gen. n. sp. is a small bony fish, characterized by symmetrically-placed dermal odontode pads, that inhabited Permian freshwater mudflat and seasonal pond-dominated continental lowland depositional environments in Oklahoma, USA. Lower jaw rami have been recovered from three individuals, and they present a type of dentition that appears to be previously unknown among bony fish. The broad, ridged surface of the tooth plate approaches the loxodont condition and may have functioned to scrape algae and other organisms from hard surfaces. The presence of a Meckelian groove suggests that Permodontodus waurikensis n. gen. n. sp. may have been a sarcopterygian.
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