Metasinopa

Metasinopa Temporal range: Early Oligocene
lower jaw of Metasinopa fraasii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Hyaenodonta
Superfamily:	†Hyainailouroidea
Family:	†Teratodontidae
Subfamily:	†Teratodontinae
Genus:	†Metasinopa Osborn, 1909
Type species
†Metasinopa fraasi Osborn, 1909
Species
†M. ethiopica (Andrews, 1906) †M. fraasi (Osborn, 1909) †M. osborni (Holroyd, 1994)
Synonyms
synonyms of species: M. ethiopica: Sinopa ethiopica (Andrews, 1906)

Metasinopa ("next to Sinopa") is a genus of teratodontine hyaenodont that lived during the early Oligocene in Egypt (northern Africa).

Taxonomy

Although Metasinopa fraasi is the only unambiguous species of the genus, the early Miocene species Metasinopa napaki from Uganda was originally assigned to Metasinopa by Savage (1965), but was later moved to Paracynohyaenodon by van Valen (1967), and is now assigned to the Miocene Anasinopa, as A. napaki. "Sinopa" ethiopica has been assigned to Metasinopa following Savage (1965), but may be its own genus considering its younger age relative to M. fraasi.

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of genus Metasinopa are shown in the following cladogram:

†Teratodontidae

†Teratodontinae    †Ekweeconfractus    ?  †Teratodontinae sp. (BC 2’08)    ?  †Teratodontinae sp. (CBI-1-614)         †Dissopsalini     †Brychotherium          †Metasinopa    †Metasinopa ethiopica     †Metasinopa fraasii     †Metasinopa osborni     †Metasinopa sp. (DPC 4544 & DPC 10199)           †Masrasector nananubis    ?  †Masrasector pithecodacos †Masrasector         †Masrasector aegypticum     †Masrasector ligabuei         †Anasinopa     †Teratodontini