Placodus

Placodus
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 245–235 Ma
Placodus gigas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: †Sauropterygia
Order: †Placodontia
Family: †Placodontidae
Cope, 1871
Genus: †Placodus
Agassiz, 1833
Species
  • †P. gigas Agassiz, 1833 (type)
  • †P. inexpectatus Jiang et al., 2008

Placodus (from Greek: plax, plakos, "a plate" and Greek: odous, "tooth")[1] is an extinct genus of marine reptiles belonging to the order Placodontia, which swam in the shallow seas of the middle Triassic period (c. 240 million years ago). Fossils of Placodus have been found in Central Europe (Germany, France, Poland) and China.

  1. ^ Colbert, Edwin H. (Edwin Harris); Knight, Charles Robert (1951). The dinosaur book: the ruling reptiles and their relatives. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 153.