Paratypothorax

{{short description|Genus of reptiles}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late [[Carnian]]? - [[Rhaetian]], {{Fossil range|216|201.6}} | image = Paratypothorax andressorum.JPG | image_caption = Type specimen [[State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart|SMNS]] 5721 on display | taxon = Paratypothorax | authority = Long and Ballew, [[1985 in paleontology|1985]] | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Paratypothorax andressi''''' | type_species_authority = Long and Ballew, 1985 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * {{extinct}}'''''P. andressorum''''' <small>Long and Ballew, 1985 ''emend.'' Heckert and Lucas, 2000 ([[type species|type]])</small> }}

'''''Paratypothorax''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[aetosaur]], known from a single species, '''''Paratypothorax andressorum'''''. It was a broadly distributed member of the group found in [[Germany]], [[North America]], and possibly parts of [[Gondwana]]. The best specimens come from Germany, though for more than a century they were mistakenly considered [[phytosaur]] armor. ''Paratypothorax'' was a large and wide-bodied [[Typothoracinae|typothoracine]] aetosaur, as well as the namesake of the [[Tribe (biology)|tribe]] [[Paratypothoracisini]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Schoch|first=Rainer R.|last2=Desojo|first2=Julia Brenda|date=2016|title=Cranial anatomy of the aetosaur Paratypothorax andressorum Long & Ballew, 1985, from the Upper Triassic of Germany and its bearing on aetosaur phylogeny|url=http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/108331|journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen|language=en|volume=279| issue = 1|doi=10.1127/njgpa/2016/0542|issn=0077-7749|hdl=11336/46965|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

== Discovery and distribution == [[File:Belodon.jpg|thumb|left|1894 restoration of "''[[Belodon]]''", based on the skull of ''[[Nicrosaurus]]'' and the carapace of the aetosaur now known as ''Paratypothorax'']]''Paratypothorax'' was first known from specimens collected from the Heslach area near [[Stuttgart]] in [[Germany]]. These hail from the [[Stubensandstein]] (also known as the Löwenstein Formation), a mid-[[Norian]] age geological unit. Heslach has also produced many fossils of a smaller aetosaur, ''[[Aetosaurus]]''. The [[holotype]] specimen of ''Paratypothorax'', [[State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart|SMNS]] 5721, consists of a series of articulated osteoderms alongside a few hip and leg bones. Large osteoderms of ''Paratypothorax'' were long misidentified as [[phytosaur]] armor, and referred to ''[[Belodon]]''. Among this formerly misidentified material is SMNS 19003, a fossil unearthed in 1945 from the Schlipf Quarry near [[Murrhardt]]. Further preparation revealed that SMNS 19003 was a complete skeleton with a well-preserved skull and fully articulated carapace.<ref name=":0" /> ''Paratypothorax'' was first recognized as an aetosaur in 1953, and was named as a new genus in 1985.<ref name="LB85" /><ref name="PJM94">{{cite journal |last=Parrish |first=J. M. |year=1994 |title=Cranial osteology of ''Longosuchus meadei'' and the phylogeny and distribution of the Aetosauria |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=196–209 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1994.10011552}}</ref>

In 1992, ''Paratypothorax'' fossils were first identified in the [[Chinle Group]] of the southwestern [[United States]]. It has been found in the [[Sonsela Member]] of [[Petrified Forest National Park]] in Arizona, as well as the [[Bluewater Creek Formation]] of western [[New Mexico]]. It is also common in strata of the [[Dockum Group]] further in eastern New Mexico and [[Texas]].<ref name="LB85">{{cite journal |last=Long |first=R. A. |author2=Ballew, K. L. |year=1985 |title=Aetosaur dermal armor from the Late Triassic of southwestern North America, with special reference to material from the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park |journal=Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin |volume=47 |pages=45–68}}</ref><ref name="HL92">{{cite journal |last=Hunt |first=A. P. |author2=Lucas, S. G. |year=1992 |title=The first occurrence of the aetosaur ''Paratypothorax andressi'' (Reptilia:Aetosauria) in the western United States and its biochronological significance |journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift |volume=66 |issue=1–2 |pages=147–157|doi=10.1007/BF02989485 |s2cid=129434871 }}</ref> Osteoderms of ''Paratypothorax'' have also been reported from the [[Norian]]-age [[Fleming Fjord Formation]] in [[Greenland]],<ref name="JEA94">{{cite journal |last=Jenkins |first=F. A. Jr. |author2=Shubin, N. H. |author3=Amaral, W. W. |author4=Gatesy, S. M. |author5=Schaff, C. R. |author6=Clemmensen, L. B. |author7=Downs, W. R. |author8=Davidson, A. R. |author9=Bonde, N. |author10= Osbaeck, F. |year=1994 |title=Late Triassic continental vertebrates and depositional environments of the Fleming Fjord Formation, Jameson Land, East Greenland |journal=Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience |volume=32 |pages=1–25}}</ref> the [[Zarzaitine Series]] of [[Algeria]], and an unverified occurrence in [[India]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lucas|first=Spencer G.|last2=Heckert|first2=Andrew B.|last3=Rinehart|first3=Larry F.|date=2006|title=The Late Triassic aetosaur ''Paratypothorax''|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/149233195.pdf|journal=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin|volume=37|pages=575–580}}</ref>

== Description == [[File:Paratypothorax andressorum (SMNS 19003).jpg|thumb|left|''Paratypothorax'' specimen SMNS 19003, an articulated skull with dorsal armor]] ''Paratypothorax'' possesses paramedian [[scute]]s that are wide, strap-like, and have grooves and pits on them forming radial patterns. Like other [[Typothoracisinae|typothoracisines]] such as ''[[Typothorax]]'', the lateral scutes bear large horns that are posteriorly hooked.<ref name=MPA86>{{cite book |last=Murry |first=P. A. |year=1986 |chapter=Vertebrate paleontology of the Dockum Group |title=The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs |editor1=K. Padian |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=109–138}}</ref> The rear of each scute is overlapped by a prominent knob.<ref name=HL99>{{cite journal |last=Heckert |first=A. B. |author2=Lucas, S. G. |year=1999 |title=A new aetosaur (Reptilia: Archosauria) from the Upper Triassic of Texas and the phylogeny of aetosaurs |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=50–68 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1999.10011122|citeseerx=10.1.1.563.9516 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20091021112410/http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/270Archosauromorpha/270.850.html#Paratypothorax ''Paratypothorax''] at [[Palaeos]] *[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=64939 ''Paratypothorax''] in the [[Paleobiology Database]]

[[Category:Aetosaurs of North America]] [[Category:Late Triassic reptiles of Europe]] [[Category:Chinle fauna]] [[Category:Late Triassic pseudosuchians]] [[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1985]] [[Category:Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera]]