Ankistrodon

Ankistrodon
Temporal range: Early Triassic, 251.9–247.2 Ma
Holotype in (A) lateral and (B) posterior views, with (C) a cross section of a tooth
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Family: Proterosuchidae
Genus: Ankistrodon
Huxley, 1865
Type species
Ankistrodon indicus
Huxley, 1865
Synonyms
  • Epicampodon Lydekker, 1885
  • Epicampodon indicus (Huxley, 1865) Lydekker, 1885
  • Thecodontosaurus indicus (Huxley, 1865) Huene, 1908
  • Chasmatosaurus indicus (Huxley, 1865) Huene, 1942

Ankistrodon is an extinct genus of archosauriform known from the Early Triassic Panchet Formation of India. First thought to be a theropod dinosaur, it was later determined to be a proterosuchid. The type species is A. indicus, described by prolific British zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley in 1865.[1] One authority in the 1970s classified Ankistrodon as a senior synonym of Proterosuchus.[2] Ezcurra (2023) found Ankistrodon to be a nomen dubium, as the teeth are indistinguishable from those of Proterosuchus. A second Indian proterosuchid from the same formation, Samsarasuchus, was also described in the same study, making it the only known valid proterosuchid from India.[3]

  1. ^ T. H. Huxley. 1865. On a collection of vertebrate fossils from the Panchet rocks, Ranigunj, Bengal. Palaeontologia Indica 4:1-24
  2. ^ Romer, A.S. (1972). "The Chañares (Argentina) Triassic reptile fauna. XVI. Thecodont classification". Breviora. 395: 1–24.
  3. ^ Ezcurra, Martín D.; Bandyopadhyay, Saswati; Sengupta, Dhurjati P.; Sen, Kasturi; Sennikov, Andrey G.; Sookias, Roland B.; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Butler, Richard J. (25 October 2023). "A new archosauriform species from the Panchet Formation of India and the diversification of Proterosuchidae after the end-Permian mass extinction". Royal Society Open Science. 10 (10). Bibcode:2023RSOS...1030387E. doi:10.1098/rsos.230387. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 10598453. PMID 37885992.