Rutiodon

Rutiodon
Temporal range: 237–208.5 Ma
Skeleton of Rutiodon carolinensis (AMNH 1) in the American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Order: †Phytosauria
Family: †Parasuchidae
Subfamily: †Mystriosuchinae
Genus: †Rutiodon
Emmons, 1856
Species
  • †R. carolinensis (Emmons, 1856) (type)
  • †R. manhattanensis (Huene, 1913)
Synonyms
  • Palaeonornis
    Emmons, 1857

Rutiodon ("Wrinkle tooth") is an extinct genus of mystriosuchine phytosaurs from the Late Triassic of the eastern United States.[1] The type species of Rutiodon, Rutiodon carolinensis, encompasses a large number of skulls and assorted postcranial fossils discovered in the Cumnock Formation of North Carolina. Fossils referable to the species are also known from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia. Rutiodon carolinensis is the most well-described species of phytosaur in eastern North America, though its validity as a natural taxon has been questioned. Some paleontologists also recognize a larger and more robust species, Rutiodon manhattanensis, which is known from teeth and postcranial fossils from New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

  1. ^ Michelle R. Stocker (2010). "A new taxon of phytosaur (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the Late Triassic (Norian) Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation) in Arizona, and a critical reevaluation of Leptosuchus Case, 1922". Palaeontology. 53 (5): 997–1022. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00983.x.