Palatodonta
- Vossenveld Formation ( Netherlands)
- Palatodonta bleekeri Neenan et al., 2013
Palatodonta ( " palatal tooth" ) is a genus of lizards fins ( Sauropterygia ), whose representatives in the Middle Triassic inhabited the western Tethys. They were characterized by two rows of pointed teeth in the upper jaw and a short, kleinschnäuzigen skull. The genus Palatodonta and their only way Palatodonta bleekeri were erected in 2013 by James Neenan, Nicole Klein and Torsten Scheyer on the basis of a fossil skull from the Muschelkalk of the Netherlands. The authors Palatodonta arranged as a sister taxon of Placodonten, with which it forms the Placodontiformes. Both lines parted in the early Triassic and differ from one another in their dentition, the round, flat and bulky precipitate at the Placodonten.
Features
The fossil material from Palatodonta is from a young animal. As with Placodonten it shows but probably typical features of adult individuals. The skull was short and had a sloping, small snout. Palatodonta had three rows of pointed teeth: An in the lower jaw and one on the palatine bone and the maxilla (including the premaxilla ). Both rows of teeth meshed with the teeth of the premaxilla, all the others were pin-shaped rather pointed. Similar to the original Placodonten Placodus the maxilla not adjacent to the eye socket and cheekbone touches the squamosal.
Fossil material, distribution and stratigraphy
The fossil material from Palatodonta includes a largely preserved fossil skull and some fragments of Postcranialskeletts. He was found in 2010 in a Dutch limestone quarry near Winterswijk and comes from strata belonging to Vossenveld lineup. The Fund layer ( about 243 mya ) dated on the lower shell or the early Anisian. Palatodonta lived in a western shelf of the Tethys Sea, which was surrounded by Pangea.
Systematics and Taxonomy
Palatodonta
Placodus
Psephoderma
Eosauropterygia
The holotype (inventory number TW480000470 ) of Palatodonta was first described in 2013 by paleontologist James Neenan, Nicole Klein and Torsten Scheyer. The genus name ( German " palate tooth" ) is inspired by the single row of teeth on the palatine bone, the Palatodonta - unlike primordial fin lizards and as Placodonten - had. The specific epithet bleekeri chose the authors in honor of the finder of the holotype, Remco Bleeker. An analysis of the characteristics of the skull of osteologic Palatodonta and other Diapsiden found that the species is at the base of Placodontia. Given the age of the earliest Placodonten Palatodonta be separated well in Olenekian from the common ancestor of Placodonten. The genus is very similar to original Placodonten as Placodus. So both have advantages over primitive fin lizards reduced Gaumenbezahnung and interlocking teeth. While the massive, flattened teeth of Placodonten but served to crack hard-shelled food, Palatodonta ate rather soft food, they dug out of the seabed. Since Palatodonta so clearly deviated from Placodonten relative to both in morphology and in the way of life, presented Neenan and colleagues on the taxon Placodontiformes that combines both lines of development to take place the species under the Placodonten.