Picrodon

Picrodon is the name given to a genus of archosaur, possibly a sauropodomorph dinosaur,[1] from the Rhaetian of England which was possibly synonymous with the dubious archosaur Avalonianus.[2] The type, and only species, P. herveyi, was named in 1898.[3]

Picrodon
Temporal range: Late Triassic, Rhaetian
Holotype tooth
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sauropsida
(unranked):
Archosauria
Genus:
†Picrodon

Seeley, 1898
Binomial name
†Picrodon herveyi
Seeley, 1898

Discovery and naming
Close up of the tooth seen from three different angles

In 1894, W. A. Sanford described the fossil remains of what he considered to be two large reptiles discovered near Westbury-on-Severn, Glastonbury (Westbury Formation) by Eev. Sydenham H. A. Hervey and Sanford himself.[4][3] Harry Govier Seeley described the fossils and named two genera: Avalonia (preoccupied; now Avalonianus) and Picrodon; both are based solely on teeth.[3]

Only a single tooth, holotype BMNH R2875, belonging to P. herveyi is known, making the remains not sufficient enough to make judgments on its diet or its classification; although it is agreed that Picrodon was an archosaur to some degree.[2]

Classification

Sanford (1894)[4] classified Picrodon as a reptile, while Seeley (1898)[3] classified Picrodon as a saurian. More modern research however almost certainly places Picrodon within Archosauria;[2] Peter Malcolm Galton (1985) suggested that Picrodon may have been a basal sauropodomorph. Currently, its exact phylogenetic placement within Archosauria remains unknown.[2]

References
  1. Galton, Peter M. (1985). "Notes on the Melanorosauridae, a family of large Prosauropod Dinosaurs (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha)". Geobios. 18 (5): 671–676. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(85)80065-6. ISSN 0016-6995.
  2. Fedak, T. J. (2007). Description and evolutionary significance of the sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the early Jurassic (Hettangian) McCoy Brook Formation. Ph.D. dissertation. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dalhousie University.
  3. H. G. Seeley. 1898. On large terrestrial saurians from the Rhaetic Beds of Wedmore Hill, described as Avalonia sanfordi and Picrodon herveyi. Geological Magazine, decade 4 5:1-6
  4. Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological Society - vol. xl, 1894, p. 234


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