Rank Genus | Class Reptilia Phylum Chordata | |
Similar Betasuchus, Lusitanosaurus, Paronychodon, Dryptosauroides, Anoplosaurus | ||
Euronychodon ("European claw tooth") is the name given to a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. Euronychodon is known from teeth only. These are similar to those of another coelurosaur tooth genus, Paronychodon.
Contents
Species
Two species of Euronychodon have been named to date.
Systematics
Being a tooth-taxon, the true affinities of Euronychodon are hard to determine. The teeth are similar to the better-known Paronychodon, which may be a senior synonym. Paronychodon was originally described as similar to Zapsalis, another tooth taxon often considered synonymous with Richardoestesia (a possible dromaeosaurid). It later had many different identifications: as a coelurid, an ornithomimosaur, a dromaeosaurid, an archaeopterygid and a troodontid — though it could also be another kind of coelurosaurian theropod. While most researchers have therefore considered such taxa as representing simply indeterminate theropod teeth, a small consensus has found them to belong to the Deinonychosauria. One study showed that the tooth enamel is identical to that found in Byronosaurus, a troodontid.
Palaeobiology
The remains indicate a small animal, estimated at around two meters (6.6 feet). The teeth indicate a carnivorous or insectivorous diet. Taveirosaurus was found at the same locality.