Macrodontophion

Macrodontophion (meaning "long-toothed snake") is the name given to a dubious genus of lophotrocozoan from the Early Devonian Dniester Series of Ukraine.[1] It was described by Adalbert Zborzewsky in 1834, but was never given a species epithet, and is considered a nomen dubium, because it is based on a single tooth.[2][3][1]

Macrodontophion
Temporal range: Early Devonian,
~409.1–402.5 Ma
Holotype tooth in two views (after Zborzewski, 1834)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Superphylum:
Lophotrochozoa
Genus:
†Macrodontophion

Zborzewsky, 1834[1]

Taxonomy

Macrodontophion was originally believed to have been a theropod by Zborzewsky in 1834.[1][2] Since Megalosaurus was mentioned in the same paragraph that the genus name Macrodontophion first appears, many palaeontologists, such as Romer in 1956,[4] Steel in 1970[5] and Romer again in 1976, believed that Macrodontophion was a megalosaur.[6] According to Weishampel (1990), Macrodontophion is a basal theropod.[7] Zborzewski (1990) tentatively referred Macrodontophion to the Jurassic. Lev Nessov suggested the age of the tooth was Early Devonian, belonging to the Dniester Series, of which is rich in Porolepis teeth, but this could not be completely confirmed at the time. Macrodontophion.[8] Olshevsky (2000) noted that the holotype tooth of Macrodontophion is similar to those of a crocodile or a plesiosaur.[9] Dumbrava and Blieck (2005)[10] and Voichyshyn (2006)[11] confidently referred Macrodontophion to the Early Devonian Dneister Series. They also confirmed that it was a lophotrochozoan.

References
  1. Zborzewsky, Adalbert (1834). Aperçu de recherches, physiques, rationelles sur les nouvelles curiosités Podolie-Volhyniennes et sur leurs rapports géologiques avec les autres localités. Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou 7: 224-254, .
  2. http://theropoddatabase.com/Non-theropods.htm#Macrodontophion
  3. Dinosaur Mailing List entry which discusses the genus
  4. Romer, 1956. Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press. 772 pp.
  5. Steel, 1970. Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. 87 pp.
  6. Romer, 1976. Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press. 772 pp.
  7. Weishampel, 1990. Dinosaurian distribution. in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press. 63-139.
  8. Nessov, 1995. Dinosaurs of nothern Eurasia: New data about assemblages, ecology, and paleobiogeography. Institute for Scientific Research on the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg. 1-156.
  9. Olshevsky, 2000. An annotated checklist of dinosaur species by continent. Mesozoic Meanderings. 3, 1-157.
  10. Dumbrava and Blieck, 2005. Review of the pteraspidiform heterostracans (Vertebrata, Agnatha) from the Devonian of Podolia, Ukraine, in the Theodor Vascautanu collection, Bucharest, Romania. Acta Palaeontologica Romianiae. 5, 163-171.
  11. Voichyshyn, 2006. New osteostracans from the Lower Devonian terrigenous deposits of Podolia, Ukraine. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 51(1), 131-142.
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