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.
Zanclodon Temporal range: Middle Triassic,
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
Clade: | Archosauriformes |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Genus: | †Zanclodon Plieninger, 1847 |
Type species | |
†Zanclodon laevis (Plieninger, 1846)
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Synonyms | |
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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]