Kingdom Animalia Class Reptilia Order †Trilophosauria Rank Genus | Phylum Chordata Clade †Allokotosauria Family †Trilophosauridae | |
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Tricuspisaurus top 5 facts
Tricuspisaurus is an extinct genus of trilophosaur. Fossils are known from the Ruthen Quarry in Glamorgan, Wales. Like some other trilophosaurs, it has an edentulous, or toothless beak. Tricuspisaurus gets its name from its heterodont dentition, which includes tricuspid teeth, or teeth with three cusps. The type species, T. thomasi, was named in 1957 along with the closely related trilophosaur Variodens inopinatus from Somerset, England.
Although originally classified as a trilophosaur, Tricuspisaurus was reclassified as a procolophonid in 1993 by paleontologists Hans-Dieter Sues and Paul E. Olsen. This was due to similarities between its tricuspid teeth and those of the newly described procolophonid Xenodiphyodon. Along with Tricuspisaurus, Variodens and Trilophosaurus jacobsi were also considered to be procolophonids. However, more recently described cranial material from T. jacobsi indicates that it is a trilophosaur, which suggests that Tricuspisaurus is also a trilophosaur rather than a procolophonid.