Polyptychodon
Name:
Polyptychodon
(Shaped fin tooth).
Phonetic: Po-lyp-tie-ko-don.
Named By: Richard Owen - 1841.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Pliosauroidea, Pliosauridae.
Species: P. interruptus
(type), P. hudsoni.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Roughly estimated at about 7 meters long.
Known locations: England, France and the USA,
Texas.
Time period: Albian to Turonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Teeth with some jaw material
and vertebrae.
Polyptychodon
has been considered to be a dubious genus of pliosaur
by some
considering that it is based upon only teeth and vertebrae. Despite
this two species are recognised, The first and type species, being
named in 1841 and based upon teeth and vertebrae from England and
France that are Aptian in Age. Further pliosaur remains from the
Turonian of Texas, were used to establish the second species, P.
hudsoni.
The
vertebrae of Polyptychodon have been compared to
those of other
pliosaur genera such as Kronosaurus,
which in turn have yielded rough
estimates of around seven meters long for Polyptychodon.
If correct,
then this would mean that Polyptychodon was a
mid-sized pliosaur.
Further reading
- Odontography. - Hippolyte Bailli�re, London, 655 p. -
Richard Owen - 1841.
- The first record of the plesiosaurian genus Polyptychodon
(Pliosauridae) from the New World. - Journal of Paleontology
37 (1):131-133. - S. P. Welles & B. H.
Slaughter - 1963.
- The "sauropod" from the Albian of Mesnil-Saint-P�re (Aube,
France): a pliosaur, not a dinosaur. - Association
G�ologique Auboise, Bulletin Annuel, Sainte-Savine 26: 3-8.
- E. Buffetaut, C. Collet�, B. Dubus, J. -L. Petit
- 2005.
- A reappraisal of Polyptychodon (Plesiosauria) from the Cretaceous of
England. - PeerJ 4 - D. Madzia - 2016.
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