Zanclodon
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 237–235 Ma
↓
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Clade: Archosauria
Genus: †Zanclodon
Plieninger, 1847
Type species
†Zanclodon laevis
(Plieninger, 1846)
Synonyms

Zanclodon ("scythe tooth") is an extinct genus of archosauriform from the Erfurt Formation[1] in southern Germany.[2] It was once a wastebasket taxon until a taxonomic revision by Schoch (2011) left only the paratype (SMNS 6045) within Zanclodon laevis proper.[3] The type species is Z. laevis.

Discovery and naming

The paratype, SMNS 56045, a maxilla with teeth, was discovered in the Gaildorf Alumn Mine in southern Germany.[3] Zanclodon was originally named Smilodon by Plieninger (1846), but this name had previously been used for the saber-toothed cat (a preoccupied name), prompting Plieninger to erect the replacement name Zanclodon in 1847.[4] A paralectotype was also assigned to Z. laevis: SMNS 6045a, a loose germ tooth.[3]

Z. plieningeri was named by Fraas in 1896,[5] but it became a junior synonym of Z. laevis shortly after publication as they are both based on the same specimen, SMNS 6045.[6]

Many species were previously lumped under the Zanclodon genus, but currently only the type species, Z. laevis, is accepted to belong to the genus.[3]

Classification

Zanclodon was formerly placed in the Teratosauridae,[7] within the Theropoda, and at times, plateosaurid material was mistakenly referred to Zanclodon.[6] It is now considered to have been an indeterminate archosauriform.[6]

Species

References

  1. ^ Hagdorn, H. & Mutter, R.J. (2011). The vertebrate fauna of the Lower Keuper Albertibank (Erfurt Formation, Middle Triassic) in the vicinity of Schwäbisch Hall (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). Palaeodiversity 4: 223–243.
  2. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Zanclodon, basic info
  3. ^ a b c d Schoch, R.R. (2011). New archosauriform remains from the German Lower Keuper. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 260: 87–100. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0133.
  4. ^ Plieninger, T. (1846). Über ein neues Sauriergenus und die Einreihung der Saurier mit flachen, schneidenden Zähnen in Eine Familie [On a new saurian genus and incorporating the saurian with flat, cutting teeth into a family]. Jahreshefte des Vereins für Vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg 2: 148-154.
  5. ^ Fraas, E. (1896). Die Schwäbischen Trias-Saurier nach dem Material der Kgl. Naturalien-Sammlung in Stuttgart zusammengestellt [Swabian Triassic dinosaurs based on the material in the Royal Natural History Collection compiled in Stuttgart]. Festgabe des Königlichen Naturalien-Cabinets In Stuttgart zur 42 Versammlung der Deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft in Stuttgart, August 1896. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlag-handlung (E. Koch), Stuttgart 1-18
  6. ^ a b c d e Galton, P.M. (2001). The prosauropod dinosaur Plateosaurus Meyer, 1837 (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha; Upper Triassic). II. Notes on the referred species. Revue de Paléobiologie, Genève 20(2): 435–502.
  7. ^ Fraas, E. (1900). Zanclodon schützii n. sp. aus dem Trigonodusdolomit von Hall [Zanclodon schützii n. sp. from the Trigonodus-dolomite of Halle]. Jahreshefte des Vereins für Vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg 56: 510–513.
  8. ^ a b Carrano, M.T.; Benson, R.B.J.; & Sampson, S.D. (2012). "The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2): 211–300
  9. ^ a b Skawiński, T.; Ziegler, M.; Czepiński, Ł.; Szermański, M.; Tałanda, M.; Surmik, D.; Niedźwiedzki, G. (2017). "A re-evaluation of the historical 'dinosaur' remains from the Middle-Upper Triassic of Poland". Historical Biology. 27 (4): 442–472. doi:10.1080/08912963.2016.1188385. S2CID 133166493.
  10. ^ Hungerbühler, A. (2001). The status and phylogenetic relationships "Zanclodon" arenaceus: the earliest known phytosaur? Paläontologische Zeitschrift 75(1): 97–112.
  11. ^ Schoch, R.R. (2002). Stratigraphie und Taphonomie wirbeltierreicher Schichten im Unterkeuper (Mitteltrias) von Vellberg (SW-Deutschland). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde (B) 318: 1–30.
  12. ^ Newton, E.T. (1899). On a megalosaurid jaw from Rhaetic beds near Bridgend (Glamorganshire). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 55: 89–96.
  13. ^ Jaekel, O. (1910). Ueber einen neuen Belodonten aus dem Buntsandstein von Bernburg [On a new belodontid from the Buntsandstein of Bernburg]. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1910 (5): 197-229


Categories