Neha Patil (Editor)

Tecovasaurus

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Clade
  
Amniota

Rank
  
Genus

Clade
  
Reptiliomorpha

Phylum
  
Chordata

Similar
  
Crosbysaurus, Revueltosaurus, Texasetes, Pterospondylus, Teinurosaurus

Tecovasaurus (te-KOH-va-SAWR-us) is an extinct Late Triassic amniote genus of unknown affinities, known only from teeth. It was initially described as a basal ornithischian dinosaur, subsequently reclassified as a member of the clade Archosauriformes of uncertain phylogenetic placement (Irmis et al. (2007), and later, taking into account the similarity of its teeth to the teeth of traversodontid cynodonts such as Dadadon (shared presence of teeth with sub-triangular crowns, enlarged denticles, and thecodont tooth implantation), as an amniote of uncertain affinities (Kammerer et al., 2012; though "based on dissimilarities in gross morphology and geographic separation" the authors considered it more likely that the taxon is indeed an archosauriform rather than a traversodontid). It is named after the Tecovas Formation, in Texas and Arizona, which yielded the holotype remains.

References

Tecovasaurus Wikipedia