Palatodonta

Palatodonta Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 246 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull diagram
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Clade:	†Placodontiformes
Genus:	†Palatodonta Neenan et al., 2013
Type species
†Palatodonta bleekeri Neenan et al., 2013

Palatodonta is an extinct genus of neodiapsid reptile known from the early Middle Triassic (early Anisian stage) of the Netherlands. It was initially described in 2013 as a basal placodontiform closely related to a group of marine reptiles called placodonts, characterized by their crushing teeth and shell-like body armor. Under this interpretation, Palatodonta is transitional between placodonts and less specialized reptiles. Like placodonts, it has a row of large teeth on its palate, but while these teeth are thick and blunt in placodonts, Palatodonta has palatal teeth that are thin and pointed (like the teeth that line the jaws of most other reptiles).^[1] A 2023 study instead classified it as a sauropterygomorph and the sister taxon to Eusaurosphargis. In other words, it is close to, but not within, Sauropterygia (the group containing placodonts and other marine reptiles such as nothosaurs and plesiosaurs).^[2]