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Placoolithus

Osteichthyes - Dendroolithidae

Taxonomy
Placoolithus was named by Zhao (1979) [nomen nudum in this paper; properly named in Zhao and Zhao 1998]. It is considered to be a form taxon. Its type is Placoolithus taohensis.

It was assigned to Spheroolithidae by Zhao (1979), Mikhailov (1994), Mikhailov (1997); and to Dendroolithidae by Zhao and Zhao (1998), Cousin (2002), Liang et al. (2009), Zhang et al. (2018), Chen et al. (2025).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
pp. Xu, Guan fig. 1998
YearName and author
1979Placoolithus Zhao p. 337
1994Placoolithus Mikhailov p. 151
1997Placoolithus Mikhailov p. 44
1998Placoolithus Zhao and Zhao pp. 284, 291
2002Placoolithus Cousin p. 47
2009Placoolithus Liang et al. p. 1591
2018Placoolithus Zhang et al. p. 673
2025Placoolithus Chen et al.

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
classOsteichthyes
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
Sauropsida
classReptilia
subclassEureptilia()
Romeriida
Diapsida()
RankNameAuthor
Archosauromorpha(Huene 1946)
Crocopoda
ArchosauriformesGauthier 1986
Eucrocopoda
Archosauria()
informalAvemetatarsalia
Ornithodira
Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauriformes
Dinosauria()
Saurischia()
Theropoda()
Neotheropoda
AverostraPaul 2002
Tetanurae
Coelurosauria()
Maniraptoriformes
TherizinosauriaRussell 1997
superfamilyTherizinosauroidea
familyDendroolithidae
genusPlacoolithus

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.

G. †Placoolithus Zhao 1979
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Placoolithus taohensis Zhao and Zhao 1998
Placoolithus tumiaolingensis Zhou et al. 1998
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Invalid names: Dendroolithus hongzhaiziensis Zhou et al. 1998 [synonym], Paradendroolithus qinglongshanensis Zhou et al. 1998 [synonym]
Invalid names: Paradendroolithus Zhou and Ren [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
H. Zhao and Z. Zhao 1998See the diagnosis of Placoolithus taohensis oogen. et oosp. nov.
S. Zhang et al. 2018The emended oogenus Placoolithus is characterized by the following unique combination of characters: oblate egg shape; an equatorial plane circular or sub-circular with long axis of 120–170 mm and short axis of 117–159 mm; eggshell thickness of 1.31–2.40 mm. Moreover, symmetric or asymmetric branches of eggshell unit usually appear in themiddle part of the eggshell, and occasionally near the outer surface of the eggshell (Figs. 3A, 4).