Euronychodon

Euronychodon
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 92–70 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Family: Troodontidae
Genus: Euronychodon
Type species
Euronychodon portucalensis
Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell, 1991
Species
  • E. portucalensis Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell, 1991
  • E. asiaticus Nesov, 1995

Euronychodon ("European claw tooth") is the name given to a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. Euronychodon is known from teeth only. These are similar to those of another coelurosaur tooth genus, Paronychodon.

Species

Two species of Euronychodon have been named to date.

Systematics

Being a tooth-taxon, the true affinities of Euronychodon are hard to determine. The teeth are similar to the better-known Paronychodon, which may be a senior synonym. Paronychodon was originally described as similar to Zapsalis, another tooth taxon often considered synonymous with Richardoestesia (a possible dromaeosaurid). It later had many different identifications: as a coelurid, an ornithomimosaur, a dromaeosaurid, an archaeopterygid and a troodontid — though it could also be another kind of coelurosaurian theropod. While most researchers have therefore considered such taxa as representing simply indeterminate theropod teeth, a small consensus has found them to belong to the Deinonychosauria. One study showed that the tooth enamel is identical to that found in Byronosaurus, a troodontid.[4]

Palaeobiology

The remains indicate a small animal, estimated at around two meters (6.6 feet). The teeth indicate a carnivorous or insectivorous diet. Taveirosaurus was found at the same locality.

See also

Notes

  1. Antunes, M.T. & Broin, F., 1988, "Le Crétacé terminal de Beira Litoral, Portugal: remarques stratigraphiques et écologiques, étude complémentaire de Rosasia soutoi (Chelonii, Bothremydidate)", Ciências de Terra 9: 153-200
  2. M.T. Antunes, D. Sigogneau-Russell, 1991, "Nouvelles données sur les Dinosaures du Crétacé supérieur du Portugal", Comptes-rendus de la Académie des Sciences de Paris, Series II 313: 113–119
  3. Nesov, L.A., 1995, "Dinozavri severnoi Yevrasii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii", Scientific Research Institute of the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia: pp 156
  4. Hwang S.H. 2005. "Phylogenetic patterns of enamel microstructure in dinosaur teeth." Journal of Morphology, 266: 208-240

References

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