Galtonia (archosaur)

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Galtonia Fossil range: Late Triassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Superclass: Tetrapoda Class: Sauropsida Subclass: Diapsida (unranked) Archosauria (unranked) Crurotarsi Genus: Galtonia Hunt & Lucas, 1994 Species: G. gibbidens
Binomial name
Galtonia gibbidens Hunt & Lucas, 1994

Galtonia is the name given to a genus of pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic. Its fossils were found in Pennsylvania and were originally described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1878.

The type species, Galtonia gibbidens, was originally classified as Thecodontosaurus gibbidens, but was moved to a new genus by Hunt and Lucas in 1994. There is also a genus of flower with the name Galtonia, causing further confusion.

Galtonia had been classified as a ornithischian, but, like Revueltosaurus, is actually a non-dinosaurian archosaur (Irmis et al., 2006, who assign it to Revueltosaurus sp.).

[edit] References

• Irmis, R.B., Parker, W.G., Nesbitt, S.J., and Liu, J. (2006). Early ornithischian dinosaurs: the Triassic record. Historical Biology, iFirst article, 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/08912960600719988. (will alter after print publication)
• http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/dinosauromorpha.htm