Zanclodon

Zanclodon ("scythe tooth") is an extinct genus of archosauriform from the Erfurt Formation^[1] in southern Germany.^[2] It was once a wastebasket taxon until a taxonomic revision by Schoch (2011) left only the paratype (SMNS 6045) within Zanclodon laevis proper.^[3] The type species is Z. laevis.

Zanclodon Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 237–235 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Genus:	†Zanclodon Plieninger, 1847
Type species
†Zanclodon laevis (Plieninger, 1846)
Synonyms
Plateosaurus plieningeri (Fraas, 1896) Smilodon laevis Plieninger, 1846 (preoccupied) Zanclodon plieningeri Fraas, 1896

Discovery and naming

The paratype, SMNS 56045, a maxilla with teeth, was discovered in the Gaildorf Alumn Mine in southern Germany.^[3] Zanclodon was originally named Smilodon by Plieninger (1846), but this name had previously been used for the saber-toothed cat (a preoccupied name), prompting Plieninger to erect the replacement name Zanclodon in 1847.^[4] A paralectotype was also assigned to Z. laevis: SMNS 6045a, a loose germ tooth.^[3]

Z. plieningeri was named by Fraas in 1896,^[5] but it became a junior synonym of Z. laevis shortly after publication as they are both based on the same specimen, SMNS 6045.^[6]

Many species were previously lumped under the Zanclodon genus, but currently only the type species, Z. laevis, is accepted to belong to the genus.^[3]

Classification

Zanclodon was formerly placed in the Teratosauridae,^[7] within the Theropoda, and at times, plateosaurid material was mistakenly referred to Zanclodon.^[6] It is now considered to have been an indeterminate archosauriform.^[6]

Species

• Z. laevis (Plieninger, 1846) [originally "Smilodon"] (type)
• Z. crenatus (Plieninger, 1846) [originally "Smilodon"] = nomen dubium at Archosauromorpha indeterminate^[8][9]
• Z. bavaricus (Fraas, 1894 vide Sandberger, 1894) = Sauropodomorpha incertae sedis^[6]
• Z. plieningeri (Fraas, 1896) = junior synonym of Z. laevis^[6]
• Z. arenaceus (Fraas, 1896) = a possible parasuchian phytosaur^[10][11]
• Z. cambrensis (Newton, 1899) = '"Newtonsaurus" (Welles & Pickering, 1993) – nomen nudum, known from a lower jaw with teeth preserved as a mould in South Wales, Theropoda indet.^[12]
• Z. schutzii (Fraas, 1900) = Batrachotomus^[13]
• Z. silesiacus (Jaekel, 1910) = nomen dubium at Archosauromorpha indeterminate^[8][9]