New Sauropod

["Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu>]

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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