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Sciroseps pawhuskai
Discussion
The species is named for Pawhuska (ca. 1763–1809), a chief of the Osage people native to the region, who reportedly got his name (“white hair”) from a powdered wig he acquired during St. Clair’s Defeat (1791).
Taxonomy
Sciroseps pawhuskai was named by Suarez et al. (2021). Its type specimen is UA-2016-13-294, a mandible (partial left mandible), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Weyerhaeuser Briar Plant Quarry [Holly Creek], which is in an Albian coastal mudstone/sandstone in the Holly Creek Formation of Arkansas. It is the type species of Sciroseps.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Sciroseps pawhuskai Suarez et al. |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Sciroseps pawhuskai Suarez et al. 2021
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| C. A. Suarez et al. 2021 | Scincoid broadly similar to Jurassic–Cretaceous lizards of “paramacellodidcordylid grade” (sensu Nydam, 2013a) in tooth morphology and most closely comparable to Pseudosaurillus Hoffstetter, 1967 and Paramacellodus (e.g., P. oweni Hoffstetter, 1967). Differs from the classic Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous European paramacellodids Paramacellodus (P. oweni Hoffstetter, 1967; holotype NHMUK R. 8131–8132, Becklesius (B. hoffstetteri Seiffert, 1975; holotype FUB Gui. A. 56), and Pseudosaurillus (P. becklesi Hoffstetter, 1967; holotype NHMUK R. 8095) in having a more gracile dentary, less robust and dorsoventrally shorter anterior portion of the subdental lamina, and tooth crowns lacking well defined lingual striae (Fig. 5). Sciroseps differs further from Paramacellodus and Pseudosaurillus in having a more convex dentary dorsoventrally, whereas Paramacellodus and Pseudosaurillus have nearly straight dentaries. It differs further from Paramacellodus in having a more gracile dentition, tooth attachments tending to subpleurodont rather than pleurodont, tooth crowns more spatulate, crista mesialis and crista distalis of posteriormost teeth paraequivalent in length, pars furcata wider, and a smaller crista intercuspidalis. Sciroseps differs from Pseudosaurillus in dentary having a more acutely pointed apex of the surangular notch, angular clasping of the surangular process of the dentary, coronoid process less exposed laterally between coronoid and surangular, tooth crowns more triangular, tooth crowns extending further beyond lateral parapet of dentary, and presence of well-defined inferior alveolar foramen in splenial. It further differs from Becklesius in tooth shafts being more robust and tooth crowns more widely spaced. Among the North American lizards of paramacellodid-cordylid grade, it differs from Atokasaurus (A. metarsiodon Nydam & Cifelli, 2002; holotype OMNH 60535) in having taller, more acutely pointed tooth crowns. Sciroseps pawhuskai differs from Paramacellodus keebleri Nydam & Cifelli, 2002; OMNH 60576, in lacking a distinct cusp at the angulis mesialis. It differs from Dakotasaurus (D. gillettorum Nydam, 2013b; holotype MNA V9110) in shorter posterior teeth in dentary, less triangular and more widely spaced tooth crowns. Sciroseps differs from Webbsaurus (W. lofgreni Nydam, 2013b; holotype MNA V10031) in having a convex dentary and more gracile teeth with pointed tooth crowns. Based on these noted distinctions, and the standard practice of naming paleontological material based on phenotypic characteristics (Estes, 1975; Evans & Chure, 1999; Nydam, 2000, 2013b, 2013a; Nydam & Cifelli, 2002; Augé, 2003; DeMar & Breithaupt, 2006; Smith, 2006; Apesteguía, Gómez & Rougier, 2014; Caldwell et al., 2015; Albino, Carrillo-Briceño & Neenan, 2016; Chiarenza & Cau, 2016; Whiteside & Duffin, 2017; Hsiou et al., 2019), the material warrants a new genus: Sciroseps and species: pawhuskai. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: c = class, subp = subphylum, uc = unranked clade | |||||
| References: Kiessling 2004, Carroll 1988, Hendy et al. 2009 | |||||