Varanodon

{{Short description|Extinct genus of tetrapods}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Roadian}}

| image = Varanodon1DB.jpg

| image_caption = Life restoration of Varanodon agilis

| taxon = Varanodon

| authority = Olson, 1965

| type_species = {{extinct}}Varanodon agilis

| type_species_authority = Olson, 1965

}}

Varanodon is an extinct genus of amniotes from the family Varanopidae. It has been found in the Chickasha Formation of Oklahoma, which dates to the Roadian stage of the Middle Permian.{{Cite journal |last=Laurin |first=Michel |last2=Hook |first2=Robert W. |date=2022 |title=The age of North America’s youngest Paleozoic continental vertebrates: a review of data from the Middle Permian Pease River (Texas) and El Reno (Oklahoma) Groups |url=https://www.bsgf.fr/10.1051/bsgf/2022007 |journal=BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin |volume=193 |pages=10 |doi=10.1051/bsgf/2022007 |issn=1777-5817|doi-access=free }} The largest varanopid known at the time of its description, with a skull length of {{convert|17.5|cm}},{{cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=E.C. |year=1965 |title=New Permian vertebrates from the Chickasha Formation in Oklahoma |journal=Circular Oklahoma Geological Survey |volume=70 |pages=1–70 |url=http://ogs.ou.edu/docs/circulars/C70.pdf}} it was closely related to and lived alongside its much larger relative Watongia.{{cite journal |last1=Reisz |first1=R.R. |last2=Laurin |first2=M. |year=2004 |title=A reevaluation of the enigmatic Permian synapsid Watongia and of its stratigraphic significance |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=377–386 |doi=10.1139/e04-016}} The two may represent growth stages of a single animal.{{cite journal |last1=Maddin |first1=H.C. |last2=Evans |first2=D.C. |last3=Reisz |first3=R.R. |year=2006 |title=An Early Permian varanodontine varanopid (Synapsida: Eupelycosauria) from the Richards Spur locality, Oklahoma |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=957–966 |jstor=4524646}}