Panphagia
| Panphagia | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstruction of the fossil specimen | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Family: | †Saturnaliidae |
| Genus: | †Panphagia Martínez & Alcober 2009 |
| Species: | †P. protos
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| Binomial name | |
| †Panphagia protos Martínez & Alcober 2009
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Panphagia is a
omnivorous
diet. Panphagia is one of the earliest known dinosaurs, and is an important find which may mark the transition of diet in early sauropodomorph dinosaurs.
Discovery
pectoral girdle, pelvic girdle, and hindlimb bones have been recovered. The russet-colored fossils were embedded in a greenish sandstone matrix and took several years to prepare and describe.[2]
Classification
Basal saurischian phylogeny simplified after Martinez and Alcober, 2009.[2] This is only one of many proposed cladograms for basal saurischians.
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Panphagia was described in 2009 by Ricardo N. Martínez and Oscar A. Alcober, both of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, in San Juan, Argentina. They performed a
Saturnalia, an early sauropodomorph, including similarities in the ischium, astragalus, and the scapular blade. Yet the fossils also exhibited similar features to those of Eoraptor, an early omnivorous sauropodomorph, including hollow bones, sublanceolate teeth, and overall proportions. Based on analysis and comparison of the Panphagia fossils and those of its closest kin, Martínez and Alcober concluded that the evolution of saurischian dinosaurs likely began with small, cursorial animals similar to Panphagia, and that there is a "general similarity among all of these basal dinosaurs [suggesting] that few structural changes stand" between Panphagia, Eoraptor, and two basal theropods which have yet to be described.[2]
The type species of Panphagia is P. protos; the specific name, meaning "the first" in Greek, is a reference to its basal position.[2]
Diet
The teeth of Panphagia indicate a possible omnivorous diet, transitional in form between the mostly carnivorous theropods and the herbivorous sauropodomorphs. The teeth in the back of the jaw are shorter than those in the front, are leaf-shaped, and also have more marked serrations.[2]
