''Dinodontosaurus'' (meaning "terrible-toothed lizard") is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivorous animals with a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typic ...

therapsid Therapsida is a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals, their ancestors and relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more ...

. It was medium to large dicynodont of the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...

(with skull up to long) and had a beak corneum. It lived in the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between Ma and ...

but disappeared in the

Upper Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. ...

Species

* ''Dinodontosaurus tener'' is the most common species of

that existed in the

, and more common in the fossil layers that age in Rio Grande do Sul, in Rota Paleontológica. They are found mainly in the Paleontological Site Chiniquá in São Pedro do Sul and Candelária, where a group of ten pups were found together, demonstrating that these animals had strategies for coexistence in a group and caring for their offspring. ''Diodontosaurus pedroanum'' Tupi-Caldas, 1936 and ''Dinodontosaurus oliveirai'',

Romer A Reference Card or "Romer" is a device for increasing the accuracy when reading a grid reference from a map. Made from transparent plastic, paper or other materials, they are also found on most baseplate compasses. Essentially, it is a speciall ...

1943 are synonyms.Paleobiology Database.
/ref> * ''Dinodontosaurus brevirostris'' is known from remains found in Argentina. ''Chanaria platyceps'' Cox, 1968 and ''Dinodontosaurus platygnathus'' are synonyms.

Gallery

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q134272 Anomodont genera Kannemeyeriiformes Middle Triassic synapsids of South America Middle Triassic first appearances Late Triassic extinctions Late Triassic synapsids of South America Triassic Argentina Fossils of Argentina Paraná Basin Santa Maria Formation Triassic Brazil Fossils of Brazil Fossil taxa described in 1943 Taxa named by Alfred Romer