Scleromochlus
Scleromochlus | |
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Cast of holotype specimen NHMUK R3556
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Ornithodira |
Clade: | †Pterosauromorpha |
Family: | †Scleromochlidae Huene, 1914 |
Genus: | †Scleromochlus Woodward, 1907 |
Species: | †S. taylori
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Binomial name | |
†Scleromochlus taylori Woodward, 1907
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Scleromochlus (from
Discovery
Its fossils have been found in the Carnian Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. The holotype was discovered around 1900 and is listed as specimen BMNH R3556, a partial skeleton preserved as an impression in sandstone, with portions of the skull and tail missing.[1]
Arthur Smith Woodward named and described Scleromochlus taylori in 1907.[1]
Description
Scleromochlus taylori was about 181 millimetres (7.1 in) long, with long hind legs; it may have been capable of four-legged and two-legged locomotion. Studies about its gait suggest that it engaged in
Classification
A lightly built
In 2020, Bennett interpreted Scleromochlus as possessing certain characteristics, including osteoderms and a crurotarsal morphology of the ankle, which suggested that Scleromochlus was not closely related to ornithodirans. Instead, he argued for a position of Scleromochlus among the Doswelliidae or elsewhere among basal members of the Archosauriformes.[5]
However, in 2022, Foffa and colleagues reconstructed a complete skeleton using microcomputed tomographic scans of the seven specimens found to date. This enabled a new phylogenetic analysis to be undertaken, which strongly supported the hypothesis that Scleromochlus was a member of the Pterosauromorpha – either as a genus of the Lagerpetidae family (shown to be a part of Pterosauromorpha in 2020[8]) or as the sister group to pterosaurs and lagerpetids. Previous alternative classifications were demonstrated to have been based on misinterpretations of incomplete or ambiguous anatomical features found in the fossil record.[9][10]