Protenodontosaurus

Name: Protenodontosaurus (Before hold tooth lizard).
Phonetic: Pro-ten-oh-don-toe-sore-us.
Named By: Pinna - 1990.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Sauropterygia, Placodontia, Cyamodontoidea, Cyamodontidae.
Diet: Shellfish.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: Europe.
Time period: Carnian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Single specimen.

       Even though it was discovered in 1990, Protenodontosaurus is still a little known placodont. It has been suggested that Protenodontosaurus is a missing link between the placodonts Placochelys and Cyamodus, or at very least representative of the form that would be expected to exist between them.

Further reading
- A skull of Cyamodus kuhnschnyderi Nosotti & Pinna 1993, from the Muschelkalk of Wassonne (Alsace, France) - Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 73(3/4):377-383 - O. Rieppel & H. Hagdorn - 1999.
- The cranial anatomy of Placochelys placodonta Jaekel, 1902, and a review of the Cyamodontoidea (Reptilia, Placodonta) - Fieldiana: Geology, new series 45:1-104 - O. Rieppel - 2001.

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