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| Psephoderma Temporal range: Late Triassic
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| P. alpinum fossil | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Placodontia |
| Family: | †Placochelyidae |
| Genus: | †Psephoderma Meyer, 1858 |
| Species | |
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Psephoderma (meaning "pebbly skin", from the Ancient Greek psepho (ψῆφος), "pebbly", and derma (δέρμα), "skin") is a genus of placodonts very similar to the related genera Placochelys and Cyamodus. Psephoderma had a flattened skull and a narrow, straight rostrum, much narrower than that of its relatives. Inside this skull, embedded in the jaws, were rounded teeth specialized for crushing the shellfish it ate. Unlike henodontid placodonts, Psephoderma's carapace was divided into two pieces, one on the shoulders and back, and another on the ventral end. Psephoderma grew to 180 centimetres (5.9 ft) long, larger than many of its relatives,[1] and lived in the Late Triassic (Norian - Rhaetian), about 210 million years ago. It was one of the last placodonts to live.[citation needed] Fossils of Psephoderma have been found in the Rhaetian deposits in the Alps and in England, hence the specific names.[2]
- ^ Lawrence H. Tanner (2018). The Late Triassic World: Earth in a Time of Transition. Springer Nature. p. 281. ISBN 978-3-319-68008-8. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
- ^ Rieppel, Olivier (2001). The cranial anatomy of Placochelys placodonta Jaekel, 1902, and a review of the Cyamodontoidea (Reptilia, Placodonta). Field Museum of Natural History.