| Sphodrosaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic, ~ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
| Clade: | Archosauriformes |
| Genus: | † Sphodrosaurus Colbert, 1960 |
| Species: | †S. pennsylvanicus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Sphodrosaurus pennsylvanicus Colbert, 1960 | |
Sphodrosaurus [1] [2] is an extinct genus of basal archosauriform reptiles from the Late Triassic-aged New Oxford Formation (not the Brunswick Formation as initially suggested) of Pennsylvania. The type species is S. pennsylvanicus, described by Edwin Colbert in 1960. [3] The holotype (NMN, Franklin and Marshall College 2321; the cast is listed under AMNH 7601) consists of a partial skeleton including the back of the skull, the vertebral column, all of the ribs, all of the hindlimbs and part of the upper forelimbs; Sphodrosaurus was originally believed to have been a member of the Procolophonidae [3] while more recently Sphodrosaurus was believed to be a basal member of the Diapsida by most authors starting with Sues et al. (1993), [4] or a member of the Rhynchosauria (Baird, 1986 [5] ). In 2022, Ezcurra & Sues redescribed the holotype in detail and placed it in a phylogenetic analysis with other Triassic diapsid reptiles, where it was found as the basalmost doswellid. [6]
