Palaeosaurus

Palaeosaurus (or Paleosaurus) is a genus of indeterminate archosaur known from two teeth found in the Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation and also either the Magnesian Conglomerate or the Avon Fissure Fill of Clifton, Bristol, England (originally Avon). It has had a convoluted taxonomic history.

Palaeosaurus
Temporal range: Late Triassic,
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Teeth BRSMG *Ca7449/4 (left) and BRSMG *Ca7448/3 (right) - of which both comprise the holotype
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Clade: Archosauria
Genus: Palaeosaurus
Riley and Stutchbury, 1836
Type species
Palaeosaurus cylindrodon
Riley and Stutchbury, 1840
Synonyms
  • Palaeosauriscus Kuhn, 1959
  • Paleosaurus (sic)
  • Palaeosaurus platyodon Riley & Stutchbury, 1836
  •  ?Palaeosaurus stricklandi Davis, 1881

Richard Owen's mistake of associating prosauropod skeletal remains with the carnivorous teeth which Riley and Stutchbury called Palaeosaurus, combined with Friedrich von Huene's Teratosaurus minor, which was also a combination of carnivore and prosauropod remains, led paleontologists to view prosauropods as carnivorous animals for quite a long time. This error made it into several textbooks and other dinosaur reference works.

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