Scleromochlus
| Scleromochlus Temporal range: Late Triassic, Carnian | |
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| Life restoration of Scleromochlus taylori | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Avemetatarsalia |
| Family: | †Scleromochlidae Huene, 1914 |
| Genus: | †Scleromochlus Woodward, 1907 |
| Species: | † S. taylori |
| Binomial name | |
| Scleromochlus taylori Woodward, 1907 | |
Scleromochlus is an extinct genus of small avemetatarsalian from the Late Triassic period. A lightly built cursorial animal, its phylogenetic position has been debated; as different analyses have found it to be either the basal-most ornithodiran, the sister-taxon to Pterosauria, or a basal member of Avemetatarsalia that lies outside of Ornithodira.
Scleromochlus is a monotypic genus (single species), which is the type species S. taylori.
Scleromochlus taylori was about 181 mm (about 7.1 inches) long, with long hind legs; it may have been capable of four-legged and two-legged locomotion.
Its fossils have been found in the Carnian Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. The holotype is BMNH R3556, a partial skeleton preserved as an impression in sandstone; part of the skull and tail are missing.[1]
References
- Benton, M. J. (1999). "Scleromochlus taylori and the origin of dinosaurs and pterosaurs". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 354 (1388): 1423–1446. doi:10.1098/rstb.1999.0489. JSTOR 57034. PMC 1692658.
- Woodward, A. S. (1907). "On a New Dinosaurian Reptile (Scleromochlus Taylori, gen. Et sp. Nov.) from the Trias of Lossiemouth, Elgin". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 63: 140–144. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1907.063.01-04.12.
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