Neosodon
| Neosodon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Neosodon teeth | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Genus: | †Neosodon Moussaye, 1885 |
Neosodon (meaning "new tooth") was a
Sables et Gres a Trigonia gibbosa of Pas-de-Calais department, France.[1][2] It has never been formally given a species name, but is often seen as N. praecursor, which actually comes from a different animal. Often in the past, it had been assigned to the wastebasket taxon Pelorosaurus, but restudy has suggested that it could be related to Turiasaurus, a roughly contemporaneous giant Spanish sauropod. It is only known from six teeth.[3]
History and taxonomy
Moussaye named this genus for a large, broken, worn tooth found in
theropod like Megalosaurus.[3]
Since then, five more teeth have been found and assigned to Neosodon.
Sauvage synonymized it with his tooth species
In the 1990s, French researchers published on new
camarasaurid bones from the same formation. At first, Buffetaut and Martin (1993) suggested that they belonged to Neosodon praecursor,[9] but Le Loeuff et al. (1996) later rejected this, as Neosodon is based only on several teeth, which did not overlap the new material.[10] The latest review accepted both Neosodon and "Iguanodon" praecursor as dubious sauropods.[11] However, Royo-Torres et al. (2006), in their description of Turiasaurus, noted that this tooth was similar to those of their genus and suggested that it could be a turiasaur.[12]
Paleobiology
The teeth referred to Neosodon are large (60 mm [2.36 in] tall and a cross-section of 35 by 20 mm (1.38 by 0.79 in) in its incomplete state, estimated at 80 mm [3.15 in] tall if complete)
References
- ISBN 0-520-24209-2
- ^ Dinosaurs of France
- ^ a b c Moussaye, M. de la. (1885). Sur une dent de Neosodon, trouvée dans les sables ferruginaux de Wilmille. Bulletin, Société Géologique de France 3(13):51-53. [French]
- ^ Sauvage, H.E. (1888). Sur les reptiles trouvés dans le Portlandian supérieur de Boulogne-sur-mer. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Historie Naturalle, Paris. 3(16):626. [French]
- ^ *Paleobiology Database entry; see Taxonomic History for some idea of the confusion regarding "I." praecursor
- ISBN 0-520-24209-2
- ISBN 0-89464-985-X
- ^ Steel, R. (1970). Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Part 14. Gustav Fischer Verlag:Stuttgart p. 1-87.
- ^ Buffetaut, E., and Martin, M. (1993). Late Jurassic dinosaurs from the Boulonnais (northern France): a review. Revue de Paléobiologie, Volume spéciale 7:17-28.
- ^ Le Loeuff, J., Buffetaut, E., and Merser, C. (1996). Discovery of a Tithonian sauropod dinosaur in Charente (western France). Géologie de la France 2:79-81. [French]
- ^ ISBN 0-520-24209-2
- ^ Royo-Torres, R., Cobos, A., and Alcalá, L. (2006). A giant European dinosaur and a new sauropod clade. Science 314:1925-1927.
