Palaeoscincus
Name:
Palaeoscincus
(Ancient skink).
Phonetic: Pa-lay-oh-scin-kus.
Named By: Joseph Leidy - 1856.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Thyreophora, Ankylosauria.
Species: P. costatus (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: USA, Montana - Judith River
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Teeth.
Named
in 1856 by Joseph Leidy on the description of teeth, Palaeoscincus
is today considered a highly dubious genus of ankylosaur.
While over
the years other fossil material has been assigned to the genus, most
of this material has now been reassigned to other dinosaur genera
including the dinosaurs Euoplocephalus,
Paranthodon and even an as
yet unidentified pachycephalosaurid. This leaves the original teeth
that established the type species, although they are widely
considered to not be diagnostic enough to be referred to further
remains. Despite this lack of viable remains Palaeoscincus
still
became one of the most commonly portrayed ankylosaurs in popular media
and toys, although the dinosaur depicted was usually a composite
produced to appear like other similar creatures to it, although there
was not factual basis for the form. Today this serves as an example
of how scientific facts are sometimes distorted in an effort to make
something appear more complete and exciting to a wider audience at
the cost of the science.
Palaeoscincus
is not the only dinosaur that Joseph Leidy described by teeth. Leidy
also named two tyrannosaurs
Deinodon and Aublysodon.
Further reading
- Notices of remains of
extinct reptiles and fishes, discovered by Dr. F. V. Hayden in the bad
lands of the Judith River, Nebraska Territory. Proceedings of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 8:72-73. - J. Leidy - 1856.
- Notes on Mesozoic vertebrate fossils. - American Journal of Science 44:170-176. - O. C. Marsh - 1892.
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