| Basutodon Temporal range: Late Triassic,
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Suchia |
| Genus: | †Basutodon von Huene, 1932 |
| Species: | †B. ferox
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| Binomial name | |
| †Basutodon ferox von Huene, 1932
| |
Basutodon is a genus of suchian archosaur from the Late Triassic (late Norian-early Rhaetian) Lower Elliot Formation of Lesotho.1 The type species is B. ferox.
Discovery and naming
The holotype is a single tooth that was discovered alongside the remains of Euskelosaurus browni in the upper Elliot Formation, Lesotho. The species Basutodon ferox was named and described by von Huene (1932).1
"Likhoelesaurus ingens", an undescribed archosauriform from the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa,2 may have been the same animal as Basutodon ferox.34
Description
Basutodon was once classified as a prosauropod, as with Teratosaurus or as a synonym of Euskelosaurus. It was probably neither of these things, though, and is much more likely to be a dubious non-dinosaur.5
Basutodon is currently listed as a basal member of Suchia,3 although Tolchard et al. (2019) suggested that Basutodon may belong to Rauisuchia.6
References
References
- von Huene, F. (1932). Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihte Entwicklung und Geschichte. Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie 1(4). 361 p. [German]
- Ellenberger and Ginsberg, (1966). Le gisement de Dinosauriens triasiques de Maphutseng (Basutoland) et l'origine des Sauropodes [The Triassic dinosaur locality of Maphutseng (Basutoland) and the origin of sauropods]. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série D. 262, 444–447.
- Kitching, J.W. & Raath, M.A. (1984). Fossils from the Elliot and Clarens Formations (Karoo Sequence) of the Northeastern Cape, Orange Free State and Lesotho, and a Suggested Biozonation Based on Tetrapods. 25: 111-125.
- Knoll, F (2004). Review of the tetrapod fauna of the "Lower Stormberg Group" of the main Karoo Basin (southern Africa): Implication for the age of the Lower Elliot Formation. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 175(1), 73–83.
- Glut, D.F. (1997). "Excluded Genera", Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company:Jefferson, North Carolina, 1005-1010. ISBN 0-89950-917-7.
- Tolchard, Frederick; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Desojo, Julia B.; Viglietti, Pia; Butler, Richard J.; Choiniere, Jonah N. (2019). "'Rauisuchian' material from the lower Elliot Formation of South Africa and Lesotho: Implications for Late Triassic biogeography and biostratigraphy". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 160 103610. Bibcode:2019JAfES.16003610T. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103610. hdl:11336/129899. S2CID 202902771. Archived from the original on 20 July 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2023.