Macromerion
| Macromerion Temporal range: Late Carboniferous, | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Family: | †Sphenacodontidae |
| Genus: | †Macromerion Fritsch, 1879 |
| Type species | |
| †Macromerion schwartzenbergii Fritsch, 1885? (Romer, 1945) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Macromerion (Macro- is Greek/Latin for “large”) is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsids, specifically Pelycosaurs, in the family Sphenacodontidae from Late Carboniferous deposits in the Czech Republic. It was named as a species of Labyrinthodon in 1875 and as its own genus in 1879.
Macromerion was one of the moderate to large-sized Spenacodontids and represented the most dominant terrestrial predators from the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, which means they lived about 300 million years ago. It is a "sail-backed" synapsid, exhibiting sizable parallel-fibered and fibrolamellar bone, along with lamellar bone. The family of Macromerion, Sphenacodontids, is a sister taxon of Therapsids. The understanding of this relationship plays an important part in understanding the mammalian features of Pelycosaurs and all synapsids. Fossils of this species and other Pelycosaurs were mostly found in regions of North America and Western Europe.