''Lycorhinus'' 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 ...

of heterodontosaurid

ornithischia Ornithischia () is an extinct clade of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek ...

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

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

(

Hettangian The Hettangian is the earliest age and lowest stage of the Jurassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 201.3 ± 0.2 Ma and 199.3 ± 0.3 Ma (million years ago). The Hettangian follows the Rhaetian (part of the Triass ...

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Early Jurassic, Early or Lower Jurassic epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between 199.5 ±0.3 annu ...

ages) strata of the

Elliot Formation The Elliot Formation is a geological formation and forms part of the Stormberg Group, the uppermost geological group that comprises the greater Karoo Supergroup. Outcrops of the Elliot Formation have been found in the northern Eastern Cape, so ...

located in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Description

''Lycorhinus'', including the remains described by Gow in 1975 as ''Lanasaurus'', is a small ( in length) herbivorous dinosaur despite the long canines it sported in its jaws.

History of discovery

The fossil material consists of dentaries and

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

e, hence the characters mentioned by the name ''Lycorhinus angustidens'' that Sidney H. Haughton attributed to the remains in 1924, where the generic name means "

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

snout", as it was at first misidentified as a

cynodont Cynodontia () is a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 Megaannum, mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Mammals are cynodonts, as are their extin ...

, and the specific descriptor means "constricted tooth". The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, SAM 3606, consists of a mandible found by Dr M. Ricono. Three other species of ''Lycorhinus'' have been named. ''Lycorhinus parvidens'' was created by

Robert Broom Robert Broom Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (30 November 1866 6 April 1951) was a British- South African medical doctor and palaeontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University ...

and ''Lycorhinus tucki'' by Richard Anthony Thulborn in 1970 renaming ''

Heterodontosaurus ''Heterodontosaurus'' is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic, 200–190 million years ago. Its only known member species, ''Heterodontosaurus tucki'', was named in 1962 based on a skull discovered in South ...

tucki'', but these have failed to find recognition. ''Lycorhinus consors'', named by Thulborn in 1974, was renamed ''

Abrictosaurus ''Abrictosaurus'' (; "wakeful lizard") is a genus of Heterodontosauridae, heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now in parts of southern Africa such as Lesotho and South Africa. It was a bipedal herbivore or o ...

'' by

James Hopson James Allen Hopson (born 1935) is an American paleontologist and professor (now retired) at the University of Chicago. His work has focused on the evolution of the synapsids (a group of amniotes that includes the mammals), and has been focused on ...

in 1975.

''Lanasaurus''

The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

and only species of ''Lanasaurus'' is ''L. scalpridens'', described by Christopher Gow in 1975 from the same horizon as ''Lycorhinus''. The generic name is derived from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''lana'', "wool" and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''saurus'', "lizard", and honours Professor Alfred Walter Crompton, nicknamed "Fuzz" because of his woolly hair. 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 ...

is derived from Latin ''scalprum'', "chisel", and ''dens'', "tooth". It is based on a partial upper jaw bone, the

BP/1/4244, found in the Upper

of Free State. The teeth show a typical replacement pattern in which during each replacement cycle every third tooth is renewed. Gow himself in 1990 concluded that the holotype of ''Lanasaurus'' was actually a specimen of ''Lycorhinus angustidens''. This has been commonly accepted since.Norman, D.B., Sues, H.D., Witmer, L.M. and Coria, R.A.. (2004). "Basal Ornithopoda". In D. B. Weishampel, H. Osmólska, and P. Dodson (eds.), ''The Dinosauria'' (2nd edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 393-412

Classification

''L. angustidens'' is thought to be allied to ''Heterodontosaurus''. Only in 1962 Alfred Walter Crompton recognised it was an ornithischian dinosaur. Thulborn in 1971 created a separate LycorhinidaeR.A. Thulborn, 1971, "Origins and evolution of ornithischian dinosaurs", ''Nature'' 234(5324): 75-78 but this group was in 1972 equated with

Heterodontosauridae Heterodontosauridae is a family (biology), family of ornithischian dinosaurs that were likely among the most Basal (phylogenetics), basal (primitive) members of the group. Their phylogenetic placement is uncertain but they are most commonly fou ...

by Peter Galton.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2018521 Heterodontosauridae Dinosaur genera Sinemurian dinosaurs Elliot Formation Fossil taxa described in 1924 Taxa named by Sidney H. Haughton Dinosaurs of South Africa