Zanclodon Temporal range: Middle Triassic, | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Genus: | † Zanclodon Plieninger, 1847 |
Type species | |
†Zanclodon laevis (Plieninger, 1846) | |
Synonyms | |
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Zanclodon ("scythe tooth") is an extinct genus of archosauriform from the Erfurt Formation [1] in southern Germany. [2] It was once a wastebasket taxon until a taxonomic revision by Schoch (2011) left only the paratype (SMNS 6045) within Zanclodon laevis proper. [3] The type species is Z. laevis.
The paratype, SMNS 56045, a maxilla with teeth, was discovered in the Gaildorf Alumn Mine in southern Germany. [3] Zanclodon was originally named Smilodon by Plieninger (1846), but this name had previously been used for the saber-toothed cat (a preoccupied name), prompting Plieninger to erect the replacement name Zanclodon in 1847. [4] A paralectotype was also assigned to Z. laevis: SMNS 6045a, a loose germ tooth. [3]
Z. plieningeri was named by Fraas in 1896, [5] but it became a junior synonym of Z. laevis shortly after publication as they are both based on the same specimen, SMNS 6045. [6]
Many species were previously lumped under the Zanclodon genus, but currently only the type species, Z. laevis, is accepted to belong to the genus. [3]
Zanclodon was formerly placed in the Teratosauridae, [7] within the Theropoda, and at times, plateosaurid material was mistakenly referred to Zanclodon. [6] It is now considered to have been an indeterminate archosauriform. [6]
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