''Archaeodontosaurus'' ("ancient-toothed lizard") is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

from the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...

. Its fossils were found in the

Isalo III Formation The Isalo III Formation is a geological Formation (geology), formation in Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. It dates back to the Middle Jurassic.Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.542-543 The use of the term "Isalo III" is somewhat controversia ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''Archaeodontosaurus descouensi'', was described in September 2005. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours the collector, Didier Descouens. It is a probable sauropod, with

prosauropod Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the Sauropoda, sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large siz ...

-like teeth.Éric Buffetaut. 2005. A new sauropod dinosaur with prosauropod-like teeth from the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar. ''Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France'', 176(5), 467–473. It may be a basal member of

Gravisauria Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...

References

External links

dml.cmnh.org
* Sauropoda Dinosaur genera Middle Jurassic dinosaurs Dinosaurs of Madagascar Fossil taxa described in 2005 Taxa named by Éric Buffetaut {{Sauropodomorph-stub