Kallimodon is a genus of sphenodont from the Late Jurassic of Bavaria, southern Germany.

Kallimodon
Temporal range: Late Jurassic
Kallimodon pulchellus
Scientific classification
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Kallimodon

Cocude-Michel, 1963
Species
  • K. pulchellus (Zittel, 1887) (type)

Systematics edit

Kallimodon was originally described as a species of Homoeosaurus by Karl von Zittel in 1887. However, in 1963 it was renamed Kallimodon due to differences from the Homoeosaurus type species.[1] In 1997, Kallimodon was sunk as a junior synonym of Leptosaurus, with the type species referred to as L. pulchellus.[2] However, subsequent studies find Kallimodon to be valid and distinct from Leptosaurus, being closely related to Sapheosaurus. One specimen previously referred to this genus is actually a distinct taxon.[3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ Cocude-Michel M. 1963. Les Rhynchocéphales et les Sauriens des Calcaires lithographiques (Jurassique supérieur) d’Europe occidentale.– Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon 7: 1–187.
  2. ^ S. Renesto and G. Viohl. 1997. A sphenodontid (Reptilia, Diapsida) from the late Kimmeridgian of Schamhaupten (Southern Franconian Alb, Bavaria, Germany). Archaeopteryx 15:27-46
  3. ^ Rauhut O. W. M., Heyng A. M., López-Arbarello A. & Hecker A. (2012): A new rhynchocephalian from the Late Jurassic of Germany with a dentition that is unique amongst tetrapods. PLoS ONE 7: e46839.
  4. ^ Oliver W. M. Rauhut & Adriana López-Arbarello (2015) Zur Taxonomie der Brückenechse aus dem oberen Jura von Schamhaupten. [On the taxonomy of rhynchocephalians from the Late Jurassic of Schamhaupten] Archaeopteryx 33: 1-11 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301517359_Zur_Taxonomie_der_Bruckenechse_aus_dem_oberen_Jura_von_Schamhaupten_On_the_taxonomy_of_the_rhynchocephalian_from_the_Late_Jurassic_of_Schamhaupten