''Centemodon'' (meaning "point tooth") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of basal phytosaur from the Late

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

Period. It lived in what is now

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is classified as a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

''. It was found in the Red Sandstone Formation near the Schuyklill River.''Centemodon''
at Paleofile.org ''Centemodon'' may have been related to '' Suchoprion''. It was a small phytosaur, weighing no more than when fully grown.

Discovery and naming

Sometime before the Bone Wars, a

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

known as Dr. Leo (

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

unknown) discovered several fossil fragmentary teeth that later became the ''Centemodon''

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

. When Leo described the fragments, he was unsure of what they belonged to, and Leo did not name the fragments. They were eventually named in

1856 Events January–March * January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California. * January 23 – The American sidewheel steamer SS ''Pacific'' leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatl ...

Isaac Lea Isaac Lea (March 4, 1792 – December 8, 1886) was an American publisher, Conchology, conchologist and geologist. He was a partner in the publishing businesses Mathew Carey, Matthew Carey & Sons; Carey, Lea & Carey; Carey, Lea & Blanchard; and Le ...

.Lea, I. 1856. Description of ''Centemodon sulcatus''. ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia'' 10: pp. 77-78.

References

Phytosauria Prehistoric reptile genera Late Triassic reptiles of North America Triassic geology of Pennsylvania Paleontology in Pennsylvania Nomina dubia Fossil taxa described in 1856 Taxa named by Isaac Lea {{triassic-reptile-stub