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New Sauropod
Hi All -
Pardons if this duplicates anything already posted today (I only see the
archives a day late):
Buffetaut, E. 2005. A new sauropod dinosaur with prosauropod-like teeth from
the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar. Bulletin de la Société Geologique de
France 176(5):467-473.
ABSTRACT: A dentary bone containing several teeth, from the Middle Jurassic
(Bathonian) of northwestern Madagascar is described as the type of a new
sauropod dinosaur taxon, _Archaeodontosaurus descouensi_, n.g., n.sp. This
taxon is characterised by the unusual combination of a dentary with a deep
anterior part, as in advanced sauropods, and teeth with large serrations and
a convex lingual side, which resemble the teeth of prosauropods. A more
common pattern in early sauropods is the combination of a low,
prosauropod-like dentary and spoon-shaped, sauropod-like teeth. Although the
condition in _Archaeodontosaurus descouensi_ strongly suggests that basal
sauropods had prosauropod-like teeth, what is known of the jaw and dentition
in various early and middle Jurassic sauropods indicates mosaic evolution
along different paths during the early diversification of the group.
_Archaeodontosaurus descouensi_ differs from Jurassic sauropod material from
Madagascar, previously described as _Bothriospondylus_ and
_Lapparentosaurus_, which needs revision. It appears that at least two
distinct sauropods, with different tooth morphologies, are present in the
Middle Jurassic of Madagascar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT 84770 USA
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and dinogami@gmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/
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