Kingdom Animalia Clade Dinosauriformes Species †D. scytobrachion Rank Genus | Class Reptilia Clade †Silesauridae Phylum Chordata | |
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Similar Dromomeron, Sacisaurus, Lewisuchus, Novialoidea, Lagerpetidae | ||
Diodorus is a genus of silesaurid dinosauriforms (relatives of basal dinosaurs) from the Late Triassic (?Carnian - Norian) Timezgadiouine Formation of the Argana Basin of Morocco. It is named after Diodorus, a legendary king of the Berber people and son of Sufax, the founder of Tangier and also in honour of Diodorus Siculus, a 1st-century Greek historian who wrote about North Africa. The specific epithet, scytobrachion, is ancient Greek for "leather armed", but also honors Dionysius Scytobrachion, a mythographer who chronicled the mythical history of North Africa. The holotype and all referred remains were found in a single quarry at the base of the Irohalene Mudstone Member of the Timezgadiouine Formation in the northeastern Argana Basin, 2.9 kilometres (1.8 mi) east of Imziln, Morocco.
Diodorus can be distinguished from other silesaurids by the presence of forward-slanted teeth that decrease in size towards the front end of the dentary (lower jaw) and a distinct side ridge running parallel to the dentary tooth socket margin. In a phylogenetic analysis, Diodorus was found to be the sister taxon to the Brazilian silesaurid Sacisaurus.