Pristerodon is an extinct
genus of
dicynodonttherapsid from the Late Permian of South Africa, Zambia and India.
Paleobiology
Brain and senses
Pristerodon were among the earliest land animals able to hear airborne sound as opposed to hearing via ground vibrations. A South African specimen studied with neutron tomography[1] has shown evidence of an
eardrum on its lower jaw with the implication that it was hearing impaired during the act of chewing. The specimen had a 3mm cavity for
cochlea which transformed sound frequency ranges into nerve impulses sent on to the brain.
^Kenneth D. Angielczyk; Bruce S. Rubidge (2010). "A new pylaecephalid dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, Karoo Basin, Middle Permian of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (5): 1396–1409.
Bibcode:
2010JVPal..30.1396A.
doi:
10.1080/02724634.2010.501447.
S2CID129846697.