Scalenodontoides

Scalenodontoides is an extinct genus of the herbivorous cynodont family Traversodontidae. It lived during the Late Triassic in what is now South Africa. Its type species is Scalenodontoides macrodontes. It was named in 1957 by A. W. Crompton and F. Ellenberger. Arctotraversodon plemmyrodon was originally classified as a species of Scalenodontoides, but was given its own genus in 1992. It is found in the Scalenodontoides Assemblage Zone of the Elliot Formation, which is named for it. It is one of the geologically youngest traversodontids, alongside the putative traversodontid Boreogomphodon. It is closely related to Exaeretodon and Siriusgnathus, but is distinguished by the presence of a shelf-like expansion of its parietal called the nuchal table. Though the largest known complete skull is only long, it may have been the largest non-mammalian cynodont, as an incomplete snout would have belonged to a specimen with an estimated skull length of .

== Paleoecology == At the time this species lived, there was a single continent called Pangea. Dinosaurs already existed, but the dominant group were the pseudosuchians. Melanorosaurus, a primitive sauropodomorph, was discovered along with Scalenodontoides in the Elliot Formation in Lesotho. Although an omnivore, the dinosaur was unlikely to pose a threat to Scalenodontoides due to the large size of the cynodont.