Hyperodapedon

Hyperodapedon Temporal range: Late Triassic (Carnian), ~231–227 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Mounted skeleton of Hyperodapedon sanjuanensis at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauromorpha
Order:	†Rhynchosauria
Family:	†Rhynchosauridae
Subfamily:	†Hyperodapedontinae
Genus:	†Hyperodapedon Huxley 1859
Type species
†Hyperodapedon gordoni Huxley 1859
Species
†H. gordoni Huxley 1859 (type) †H. huenei Langer & Schultz 2000 †H. huxleyi? Lydekker 1881 †H. mariensis? (Tupi Caldas 1933) †H. sanjuanensis? (Sill 1970) emend. Langer & Schultz 2000 †H. tikiensis Mukherjee & Ray 2014
Synonyms
Genus-level Cephalonia Huene, 1942 (nomen dubium) Scaphonyx Woodward, 1907 (nomen dubium) Stenometopon Boulenger, 1903 Macrocephalosaurus? Tupi Caldas, 1933 Paradapedon Huene, 1938 Species-level Cephalonia lotziana Huene, 1942 (nomen dubium) Scaphonyx africanus Boonstra, 1953 (nomen dubium) Scaphonyx australis Huene, 1926 (nomen dubium) Scaphonyx fischeri Woodward, 1907 (nomen dubium) Scaphonyx sanjuanensis Sill, 1970 Macrocephalosaurus mariensis Tupi Caldas, 1933 Paradapedon huxleyi (Lydekker, 1881) Stenometopon taylori Boulenger, 1903

Hyperodapedon (from Greek: ῠ̔πέρ hupér, 'above' and Greek: δάπεδον dápedon, 'pavement')^[1] is an extinct genus of rhynchosaur reptiles which lived during Late Triassic period. Like other rhynchosaurs, it was an heavily built archosauromorph, distantly related to archosaurs such as crocodilians and dinosaurs. Hyperodapedon in particular was part of the subfamily Hyperodapedontinae, a specialized rhynchosaurian subgroup with broad skulls, beaked snouts, and crushing tooth plates on the roof of the mouth.

Hyperodapedon remains one of the most widespread and well-understood rhynchosaurs due to its abundance of fossils on several continents. It was named and discovered by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1859, based on H. gordoni, a species from Scotland. It has also been reported from Africa, Asia (India), and North and South America, though some species were later split off into their own genera. An Indian species, H. huxleyi, is also known by the genus name Paradapedon. Some of the early South American finds were described under the name Scaphonyx, which is often considered a junior synonym of Hyperodapedon. Hyperodapedon fossils are abundant and biostratigraphically significant in strata of the late Carnian stage, such as the Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina and the Upper Santa Maria Formation of Brazil. It is generally considered a herbivore that used its beaked premaxilla and hindlimbs to dig for plants on land.