Sarkastodon

{{short description|Oxyaenid genus from upper Eocene Epoch}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|45.0|39.9}} Middle Eocene

|image = Sarkastodon mongoliensis NT.jpg

|image_caption = Reconstruction of Sarkastodon mongoliensis

|image2 = Sarkastodon scull AMNH.jpg

|image2_caption = Skull reconstructions of Sarkastodon mongolensis

|taxon = Sarkastodon

|authority = Granger, 1938Granger, W. (1938.) [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/2199/1/N0969.pdf "A giant oxyaenid from the upper Eocene of Mongolia."] American Museum Novitates 969.

|type_species = †Sarkastodon mongoliensis

|type_species_authority = Granger, 1938

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision =

• †Sarkastodon henanensis (Tong & Lei, 1986)Y. Tong and Y. Lei (1986.) "Fossil Creodonts and Carnivores (Mammalia) from the Hetaoyuan Eocene of Henan." Vertebrata PalAsiatica 24(3):210-221
• †Sarkastodon mongoliensis (Granger, 1938)

}}

Sarkastodon ("meaty tooth") is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Oxyaeninae within extinct family Oxyaenidae, that lived in Asia (in today's China and Mongolia) during the middle Eocene. It was a genus of large, carnivorous animals known only from a skull and jawbones. Sarkastodon was probably a hypercarnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Middle Eocene, such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses. Its weight is estimated at {{convert|800|kg|lb|abbr=on}},{{Cite journal |last=Sorkin |first=B. |title=A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators |journal=Lethaia |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=333–347 |year=2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x|bibcode=2008Letha..41..333S }} and its length at 3 m (10 ft).{{cite book |last=Prothero |first=Donald R. |title=The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiftDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |year=2016 |page=125 |isbn=9781400884452}}