Tholodus schmidi Meyer, 1848

Sues, Hans-Dieter & Schoch, Rainer R., 2025, Synopsis of the Triassic reptiles from Germany, Fossil Record 28 (2), pp. 411-483 : 411-483

Tholodus schmidi Meyer, 1848

Holotype.

Jaw fragment with four teeth and broken base of a fifth tooth ( Meyer 1851: pl. 31, figs 27–28). Current repository unknown.

Type locality.

Tatzend, Jena, Thuringia.

Type horizon.

Terebratelbank Subformation, Jena Formation, Lower Muschelkalk Subgroup. Age: Middle Triassic (Anisian: Pelsonian).

Referred material.

See Peyer (1939) and Dalla Vecchia (2004).

Diagnosis.

Distinguished by the following combination of features: multiple tooth rows; posterior tooth crowns massive, rounded, labiolingually compressed; enamel with pronounced apicobasal wrinkles; bases of tooth crowns constricted; and tooth roots long and straight, with plicidentine ( McGowan and Motani 2003).

Comments.

Peyer (1939) tentatively suggested “ tocosaurian ” (= lepidosaurian) affinities for Tholodus schmidi . McGowan and Motani (2003) considered it related to the ichthyopterygian Mixosaurus . Based on diagnostic jaw remains associated with postcranial remains of an early ichthyopterygian from the Anisian (Pelsonian-Illyrian) of Udine Province ( Italy), Dalla Vecchia (2004) suggested that Tholodus schmidi is possibly a grippidian ichthyopterygian.

References.

Meyer (1848, 1851), Peyer (1939), Hagdorn and Rieppel (1999), McGowan and Motani (2003), Dalla Vecchia (2004).