Stephanospondylus
| Stephanospondylus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Bones from the holotype specimen of Stephanospondylus pugnax. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Diadectomorpha |
| Family: | †Diadectidae |
| Genus: | †Stephanospondylus Stappenbeck, 1905 |
| Species | |
| |
Stephanospondylus is an extinct
Early Permian of Germany. Fossils have been found in deposits of the Lower Rotliegend near Dresden. The type species S. pugnax was originally referred to the genus Phanerosaurus
in 1882 but was placed in its own genus in 1905.
Description
Stephanospondylus is known only from several vertebrae and fragments of the upper and lower jaws. It was named in 1882 on the basis of two slabs, the fossils in which were thought to represent two individuals. With the erection of a new genus in 1905, the fossils were considered to be part of a single individual.
Stephanospondylus has spade-shaped teeth adapted to cutting plant material. The vertebrae are distinct from those of other diadectids in that they lack hyposphene-hypantrum articular surfaces. The holotype specimen may represent a juvenile form of another diadectid. Because so little is known of the genus, the relationship of Stephanospondylus to other diadectids is poorly known.[3]
References
- ^ Stappenbeck, R. (1905). "Uber Stephanospondylus n. g. und Phanerosaurus H. v. Meyer". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft. 57: 380–437.
- JSTOR 30060376.
- hdl:1807/24357.
