Colognathus

Colognathus is a genus of extinct reptile from Late Triassic rocks of the southwestern United States. It was described in 1928 from a jaw fragment by Case, who interpreted the new taxon as a fish. The type species is C. obscurus.

Colognathus
Temporal range: Late Triassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Subclass:
?Anapsida
Order:
?Procolophonidae
Genus:
Colognathus

Case, 1933
Species
  • C. obscurus (Case, 1928)[1][2]

Distribution

Approximately 25 specimens have been found as of 2007.[2] A great many of the reptile's fossils are from the Tecovas Formation of western Texas. Other finds of Colognathus were from places such as the Palo Duro Canyon (in western Texas) and the Santa Rosa Formation (in New Mexico).[2] One tooth is known from the Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation at Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Material from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) Lower Keuper of southern Germany has been assigned to Colognathus, extending the temporal range of the form in the Middle Triassic.[3]

Classification

Colognathus was originally named Xenognathus by Ermin Cowles Case in 1928, but that name was preoccupied, so Case provided the replacement name Colognathus in 1933.[4][5] Researchers have classified Colognathus as a reptile, although its lower-level classification remains uncertain, although it may be a procolophinid.[2][6]

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010-02-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2007SE/finalprogram/abstract_119307.htm
  3. Sues, H.D., Schoch, R.R., 2013. First record of Colognathus (? Amniota) from the Middle Triassic of Europe. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 33(4), 998-1002.
  4. Case, E. C. 1928. Indications of a cotylosaur and of a new form of fish from the Triassic beds of Texas, with remarks on the Shinarump Conglomerate. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 3:1–14.
  5. Case, E. C. 1933. Colognathus proposed for Xenognathus, preoccupied. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 23:65.
  6. Schoch, R. R. 2011. A procolophonid-like tetrapod from the German Middle Triassic. Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen 259:251–255.
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