cynodont

British

/ ˈsaɪnəˌdɒnt /

noun

a carnivorous mammal-like reptile of the late Permian and Triassic periods, whose specialized teeth were well developed

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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Guillermo Rougier, a palaeontologist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, describes them as “incredible discoveries” that are right on the cusp between mammals and their cynodont ancestors.

From Nature

Yes, the first mammals developed from a reptile known as the cynodont.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023