Euronychodon

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Euronychodon
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 92–70  Ma
Euronychodon tooth.png
Euronychodon tooth crown
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: Troodontidae
Genus: Euronychodon
Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell, 1991
Type species
Euronychodon portucalensis
Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell, 1991
Species
  • E. portucalensisAntunes & Sigogneau-Russell, 1991
  • E. asiaticusNesov, 1995

Euronychodon ("European claw tooth") is the name given to a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. Euronychodon is known from teeth only. These are similar to those of another coelurosaur tooth genus, Paronychodon .

Contents

Species

Two species of Euronychodon have been named to date.

Systematics

Being a tooth-taxon, the true affinities of Euronychodon are hard to determine. The teeth are similar to the better-known Paronychodon , which may be a senior synonym. Paronychodon was originally described as similar to Zapsalis , another tooth taxon often considered synonymous with Richardoestesia (a possible dromaeosaurid). It later had many different identifications: as a coelurid, an ornithomimosaur, a dromaeosaurid, an archaeopterygid and a troodontid — though it could also be another kind of coelurosaurian theropod. While most researchers have therefore considered such taxa as representing simply indeterminate theropod teeth, a small consensus has found them to belong to the Deinonychosauria. One study showed that the tooth enamel is identical to that found in Byronosaurus , a troodontid. [4]

Palaeobiology

The remains indicate a small animal, estimated at around two meters (6.6 feet). The teeth indicate a carnivorous or insectivorous diet. Taveirosaurus was found at the same locality.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of troodontid research</span> Events in the history of paleontology

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References

  1. Antunes, M.T. & Broin, F., 1988, "Le Crétacé terminal de Beira Litoral, Portugal: remarques stratigraphiques et écologiques, étude complémentaire de Rosasia soutoi (Chelonii, Bothremydidate)", Ciências de Terra9: 153-200
  2. M.T. Antunes, D. Sigogneau-Russell, 1991, "Nouvelles données sur les Dinosaures du Crétacé supérieur du Portugal", Comptes-rendus de la Académie des Sciences de Paris, Series II313: 113–119
  3. Nesov, L.A., 1995, "Dinozavri severnoi Yevrasii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii", Scientific Research Institute of the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia: pp 156
  4. Hwang S.H. 2005. "Phylogenetic patterns of enamel microstructure in dinosaur teeth." Journal of Morphology, 266: 208-240

Further reading