Genyodectes
Name:
Genyodectes
(Jaw biter).
Phonetic: Jen-yo-dek-teez.
Named By: Arthur S. Woodward - 1901.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Ceratosauria, Ceratosauridae.
Species: G. serus (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of fossil remains.
Known locations: Argentina - Cerro Barcino
Formation, Cerro Castaņo Member?
Time period: Aptian/Albian? of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull including
premaxilla and maxilla and partial dentary, including teeth.
Genyodectes
was first named in 1901 by A. S. Woodward who described it upon
the basis of partial premaxilla and maxilla bones as well as a
dentary. Because of the lack of other fossils the genus languished in
relative obscurity for over a hundred years, with occasional
references citing Genyodectes as a nomen dubium.
However thanks to a
2004 study of the type specimen by Oliver W. M. Rauhut, the
Genyodectes holotype is now actually considered to
be diagnostic of a
distinct genus. This is because the arrangement of the teeth in the
premaxilla is only seen in one other theropod dinosaur genus,
Ceratosaurus.
At the same time however, Ceratosaurus only has
three teeth in each premaxilla while Genyodectes
has four teeth in each
premaxilla indicating that while Genyodectes was
probably very similar
to Ceratosaurus, it was at the same time distinct.
Returning
again to the 2004 re-description by Rauhut, the Genyodectes
holotype is thought to have come from the Cerro Castaņo Member of the
Cerro Barcino Formation. This by itself indicates that
Genyodectes lived on the same landscape as the
possibly even larger
Tyrannotitan.
Further reading
- On some extinct reptiles from Patagonia, of the genera
Meiolania, Dinilysia, and Genyodectes. - Proceedings of the
Zoological Society of London 1901:169-184. - Arthur S.
Woodward - 1901.
- Provenance and anatomy of Genyodectes serus,
a large-toothed
ceratosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Patagonia. - Journal
of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(4):894-902. - Oliver W. M.
Rauhut - 2004.
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