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Macelognathus

Extinct genus of reptiles

Macelognathus
Summary

Extinct genus of reptiles

Macelognathus is an extinct genus of sphenosuchian crocodylomorph from the Late Jurassic. Originally it was believed be a turtle and later a dinosaur. It lived in what is now Wyoming, in North America.

Skeletal restorations

The type species, Macelognathus vagans, was described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1884 as a turtle based on a partial jaw from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming. After being referred to the Dinosauria by Moodie in 1908, Based on new material from the Morrison Formation at Fruita, Colorado, in 2005 Göhlich et al. identified it as a basal crocodylomorph ("sphenosuchian"). It is considered an example of convergent evolution, due to the similarities to caenagnathid dinosaurs, with which it was not closely related. It was between 3.9 and long.

It is possibly a junior synonym of Hallopus victor.

References

References

  1. Moodie, R.L. 1908. The relationship of the turtles and plesiosaurs. Kansas University Scientific Bulletin, 4: 319–327.
  2. "DML entry on ''Macelognathus''".
  3. Marsh, O.C. 1884. A new order of extinct Jurassic reptiles (Macelognatha). ''American Journal of Sciences'' 27(3): 341.
  4. it was later reclassified by Ostrom in 1971 as a crocodilian relative.Ostrom, J.H. (1971). "On the systematic position of ''Macelognathus vagans''". ''Postilla'' 153:1-10.
  5. Göhlich, U., L.M. Chiappe, J.M. Clark, and H.-D. Sues (2005) The systematic position of the Late Jurassic alleged dinosaur ''Macelognathus'' (Crocodylomorpha: Sphenosuchia). ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'' 42: 307–321.
Wikipedia Source

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late-jurassic-crocodylomorphs terrestrial-crocodylomorphs morrison-fauna late-jurassic-crocodylomorphs-of-north-america fossil-taxa-described-in-1884 taxa-named-by-othniel-charles-marsh prehistoric-pseudosuchian-genera
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