''Belodon'' (meaning "arrow tooth") 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 ...

phytosaur Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in Greek, meaning 'plant lizard') are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform or basal archosaurian reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria and are sometimes ref ...

, a crocodile-like reptile that lived during the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

. Its fossils have been found in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, North American, and India, but their remains have not been found in the southern continents. Familiar genera include Phytosaurus, Belodon, and Rutiodon, which was more than 3 metres (10 feet) long and whose skull alone measured about 1 metre. 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 ...

, ''Belodon plieningeri'', was named by prolific German

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer (3 September 1801 – 2 April 1869), known as Hermann von Meyer, was a German palaeontologist. He was awarded the 1858 Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London. Life He was born in Frankfurt am ...

in 1844. Many other species were also named, among them ''Belodon buceros'' (named by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker fam ...

in 1881),Cope, E.D. (1881). "''Belodon'' in New Mexico". ''American Naturalist'' 15: 922-923. ''Belodon kapfii'' (von Meyer, 1861), ''Belodon lepturus'' (Cope, 1870),Cope, E.D. (1870). "Reptilia of the Triassic Formation of the United States". ''American Naturalist'' 4: 562-563. ''Belodon priscus'' (originally described as ''Compsosaurus priscus'' by

Joseph Leidy Joseph Mellick Leidy (September 9, 1823 – April 30, 1891) was an American paleontologist, parasitologist and anatomist. Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, later becoming a professor of natural history at Swarth ...

in 1856),Leidy, J. (1856). "Notice of some remains of extinct vertebrated animals". ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' 163-165. ''Belodon scolopax'' (Cope, 1881), and ''Belodon validus'' (

Othniel Charles Marsh Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of paleontology. A prolific fossil collector, Marsh was one of the preeminent paleontologists of the nineteenth century. Among his legacies are the discovery or ...

, 1893).Marsh, O.C. (1893). "Restoration of ''Anchisaurus''". ''The American Journal of Science''. Series 3 45: 169-170. Some paleontologists of the late 19th and early 20th century believed ''Belodon'' was synonymous with ''

Phytosaurus ''Phytosaurus'' (meaning "plant lizard") is a dubious genus of extinct parasuchid phytosaur found in an outcrop of the Keuper (likely the Exter Formation) in Germany. ''Phytosaurus'' was the first phytosaur to be described, being done so by ...

'' or ''

Machaeroprosopus ''Machaeroprosopus'' (from , 'large knife' and , 'bordering on') is an extinct genus of mystriosuchin leptosuchomorph phytosaur from the Late Triassic of the southwestern United States. ''M. validus'', once thought to be the type species of ''M ...

''.

References

External links

Phytosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide
from Dinosauria.com Phytosauria Prehistoric reptile genera Late Triassic reptiles of Europe Late Triassic reptiles of North America Fossil taxa described in 1844 Taxa named by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer {{triassic-reptile-stub