Podokesaurus
Name:
Podokesaurus.
Phonetic: Poe-doe-key-sore-us.
Named By: Mignon Talbot - 1911.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Coelophysoidea, Coelophysidae.
Species: P. holyokensis
(type).
Diet: Insectivore/Carnivore.
Size: About 90 centimetres long.
Known locations: USA, - Portland Formation.
Time period: Early Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Two individuals of partial
remains. Holotype destroyed in a fire.
Podokesaurus
is often spoken about as being a valid genus, yet the partial remains
of the fossils attributed to this genus are considered to be near
identical of another dinosaur named Coelophysis.
In fact the genus is
sometimes referenced as Coelophysis holyokensis,
though the genus
name Podokesaurus also still appears in use despite
the first
suggestion that the two genera are the same being made back in 1964
by Edwin H. Colbert. To add further confusion to which term is the
more valid, the holotype of Podokesaurus was
destroyed in a museum
fire in the early 1920s. Casts of these fossils remain, but these
are only of the outer impressions and do not contain the hidden
details obscured from view that might have been revealed by a CAT
scan of the original fossils.
Podokesaurus
would have shared its habitat with the sauropodomorph Anchisaurus.
Further reading
- Podokesaurus holyokensis, a new dinosaur of
the Connecticut
Valley, Mignon Talbot - 1911.
- Coelurosaur bone casts from the Connecticut Valley Triassic, E.
H. Colbert & D. Baird - 1958.
- The Triassic dinosaur genera Podokesaurus and Coelophysis,
E.
H, Colbert - 1964.
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