Palacrodon

Palacrodon is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Triassic deposits in South Africa and Antarctica, but also Late Triassic deposits in Arizona.[1] Although previously considered an early rhynchocephalian, it is currently considered a diapsid of uncertain placement.

Palacrodon
Temporal range: Triassic, 245–219 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Diapsida
Family: incertae sedis
Genus: †Palacrodon
Broom, 1906
Species
  • †P. browni Broom, 1906 (type)

History

The type specimen of Palacrodon browni was described from the Early Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of South Africa by Robert Broom, who classified it in Rhynchocephalia.[2] Malan (1963) questioned the rhynchocephalian placement of Palacrodon, viewing it as either a lizard or procolophonid.[3] A skull collected from the lower part of Fremouw Formation of Antarctica was named Fremouwsaurus geludens by Gow (1992), but that taxon was synonymized with Palacrodon by Gow (1999), who also described new material of the genus from South Africa and concluded that Palacrodon itself was not a member of Rhynchocephalia due to its lack of a quadratojugal and the presence of a lacrimal.[4][5] Material described from the Adamanian-age Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation extends the stratigraphic range of the form into the Norian.[1]

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References
  1. Kligman, B.T., Marsh, A.D., and Parker, W.G. 2018. First records of diapsid Palacrodon from the Norian, Late Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona, and their biogeographic implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63 (1): 117–127.
  2. Broom, R. 1906. On a new South African Triassic rhynchocephalian. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 16: 379–380.
  3. Malan, M.E. 1963. The dentitions of the South African rhynchocephalia and their bearing on the origin of the rhynchosaurs. South African Journal of Science 59: 14–220.
  4. Gow, C.E. 1992. An enigmatic new reptile from the Lower Triassic Fremouw Formation of Antarctica. Palaeontologia Africana 29: 21–23.
  5. Gow, C.E. 1999. The Triassic reptile Palacrodon browni Broom, synonymy and a new specimen. Palaeontologia Africana 35: 21–23.
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