| Scutarx Temporal range: Late Triassic,
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Life restoration and size diagram | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | †Aetosauriformes |
| Order: | †Aetosauria |
| Family: | †Stagonolepididae |
| Genus: | †Scutarx Parker, 2016 |
| Type species | |
| †Scutarx deltatylus Parker, 2016
| |
Scutarx is an extinct genus of Aetosauriformes, most commonly regarded by its species name Scutarx deltatylus (Scutarx Latin for “shield fortress” -scutum meaning “shield” and -arx meaning “fortress”; deltatylus Greek for “triangular protuberance” -delta meaning triangle and -tylos meaning “knob, knot, swelling, callous, protuberance”).[1] Scutarx lived around 230 million years ago during the Carnian and Norian stage of the Late Triassic.[2][3] Scutarx are “medium sized” paramedian osteoderms belonging to the clade Aetosauria, a heavily armored and more herbivorous cousin of crocodiles.[4]
The presence of a large, triangular boss in the posteromedial corner of the dorsal surface of the dorsal paramedian osteoderms is the primary morphological characteristic that distinguishes Scutarx from other aetosaurs.[2][5] Both morphologically and stratigraphically, Scutarx can be distinguished from the closely related taxas Calyptosuchus wellesi and Adamanasuchus eisenhardtae. Because of this, Scutarx is prevalent in the fossil record because it may be an indicator taxon for the late Adamanian biozone.[2]
- ^ Parker, William (2014). "Taxonomy and phylogeny of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) including a new species from the Upper Triassic of Arizona".
- ^ a b c Parker, William (2016). "Osteology of the Late Triassic aetosaur Scutarx deltatylus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia)". PeerJ. 4: e1583. doi:10.7717/peerj.1583. PMC 4727975. PMID 26819845. S2CID 5317139.
- ^ Small, Bryan (2001). "Cranial anatomy of Desmatosuchus haplocerus (Reptilia: Archosauria: Stagonolepididae)".
- ^ Parker, William (2016). "Revised phylogenetic analysis of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia); assessing the effects of incongruent morphological character sets". PeerJ. 4: e1583. doi:10.7717/peerj.1583. PMC 4727975. PMID 26819845.
- ^ Lessner, Emily; Parker, William; Marsh, Adam. "New insights into Late Triassic dinosauromorph-bearing assemblages from Texas using apomorphy-based identifications".