Rhopalodon
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Rhopalodon is the name given to a genus of synapsid from the Permian of Russia. It has been variously classified as a dinosaur, a dinocephalian, or another branch of Reptilia. Rhopalodon is notable for being among the first reptiles mentioned in Nature. T.H. Huxley wrote of this reptile, among others, in the inaugural issue of the magazine, in November of 1869. He gaves the age of this animal and of the contemporary Deuterosaurus as Triassic, but both are now known to have lived during the Middle Permian.
According to Tverdokhlebov et al 2005, Rhopalodon was a medium-sized terrestrial dinocephalian herbivore that was chararcteristic of the early Tatarian Urzhumian biostratigraphic zone (Bolshekinelskaya and Amanakskaya svitas).
[edit] References
- http://www.nature.com/nature/about/first/triassic.html
- http://dml.cmnh.org/1999Nov/msg00820.html
- Valentin P. Tverdokhlebov, Galina I. Tverdokhlebova, Alla V. Minikh, Mikhail V. Surkov, and Michael J. Benton, (2005) Upper Permian vertebrates and their sedimentological context in the South Urals, Russia, Earth-Science Reviews 69 27-77 55
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