''Panphagia'' 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 ...

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

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 ...

described in 2009. It lived around 231 million years ago, during the

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Triassic series (stratigraphy), Series (or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Triassic Epoch (reference date), Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227.3 ...

age of the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch a ...

period in what is now northwestern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Fossils of the genus were found in the La Peña Member of the

Ischigualasto Formation The Ischigualasto Formation is a Late Triassic geological formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of southwestern La Rioja Province, Argentina, La Rioja Province and northeastern San Juan Province, Argentina, San Juan Province in northw ...

in the

Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin The Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin () is a small sedimentary basin located in the Argentine Northwest, Argentina. It is located in the southwestern part of La Rioja Province and the northeastern part of San Juan Province. The basin borders the ...

. The name ''Panphagia'' comes from the

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 ...

words ', meaning "all", and ', meaning "to eat", in reference to its inferred

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

diet. ''Panphagia'' is one of the earliest known dinosaurs, and is an important find which may mark the transition of diet in early sauropodomorph dinosaurs.

Discovery

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s of ''Panphagia'' were found in late 2006 by the Argentinean paleontologist Ricardo N. Martínez in rocks of the

of Valle Pintado,

Ischigualasto Provincial Park Ischigualasto Provincial Park (), also called ''Valle de la Luna'' ("Valley of the Moon" or "Moon Valley"), due to its moon-like appearance, is a provincial protected area in the north-east of San Juan Province (Argentina), San Juan Province, nor ...

, San Juan Province,

. The bones were found at approximately the same level as a 231.4 million year old ash layer, indicating it lived during the early

of the

. ''Panphagia'' is currently known from

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 ...

PVSJ 874, the disarticulated remains of one partially grown individual of about long. Portions of the skull,

vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

pectoral girdle The shoulder girdle or pectoral girdle is the set of bones in the appendicular skeleton which connects to the arm on each side. In humans, it consists of the clavicle and scapula; in those species with three bones in the shoulder, it consists o ...

pelvic girdle The hip bone (os coxae, innominate bone, pelvic bone or coxal bone) is a large flat bone, constricted in the center and expanded above and below. In some vertebrates (including humans before puberty) it is composed of three parts: the Ilium (bone) ...

, and hindlimb bones have been recovered. The russet-colored fossils were embedded in a greenish sandstone matrix and took several years to prepare and describe.

Classification

''Panphagia'' was described in 2009 by Ricardo N. Martínez and Oscar A. Alcober, both of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, in San Juan, Argentina. They performed a

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data ...

and found it to be the most basal known sauropodomorph dinosaur: the fossils shared similar features to those of ''

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an Roman festivals, ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the List of Roman deities, god Saturn (mythology), Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By t ...

'', an early sauropodomorph, including similarities in the

ischium The ischium (; : is ...

astragalus Astragalus may refer to: * ''Astragalus'' (plant), a large genus of herbs and small shrubs *Astragalus (bone) The talus (; Latin for ankle or ankle bone; : tali), talus bone, astragalus (), or ankle bone is one of the group of foot bones known ...

, and the

scapula The scapula (: scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either side ...

r blade. Yet the fossils also exhibited similar features to those of ''

Eoraptor ''Eoraptor'' () is a genus of small, lightly built, Basal (phylogenetics), basal sauropodomorpha, sauropodomorph dinosaur. One of the earliest-known dinosaurs and one of the earliest sauropodomorphs, it lived approximately 231 to 228 million yea ...

'', an early omnivorous sauropodomorph, including hollow bones, sublanceolate teeth, and overall proportions. Based on analysis and comparison of the ''Panphagia'' fossils and those of its closest kin, Martínez and Alcober concluded that the evolution of saurischian dinosaurs likely began with small, cursorial animals similar to ''Panphagia'', and that there is a "general similarity among all of these basal dinosaurs uggestingthat few structural changes stand" between ''Panphagia'', ''Eoraptor'', and two basal theropods which have yet to be described. 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 ...

of ''Panphagia'' is ''P. protos''; 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 ...

, meaning "the first" in Greek, is a reference to its basal position.

Diet

The teeth of ''Panphagia'' indicate a possible omnivorous diet, transitional in form between the mostly carnivorous theropods and the herbivorous sauropodomorphs. The teeth in the back of the jaw are shorter than those in the front, are leaf-shaped, and also have more marked serrations.

References

{{Portal bar, Dinosaurs Saturnaliidae Dinosaur genera Carnian dinosaurs Ischigualasto Formation Fossil taxa described in 2009 Dinosaurs of Argentina

Discovery

Classification

Diet

See also

References