Scleromochlus

Scleromochlus Temporal range: Late Triassic, Carnian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Life restoration of Scleromochlus taylori
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Node:	Ornithodira
Order:	†Pterosauria
Family:	†Scleromochlidae Huene, 1914
Genus:	†Scleromochlus Woodward, 1907
Species:	†S. taylori
Binomial name
Scleromochlus taylori Woodward, 1907

Scleromochlus is an extinct genus of small avemetatarsalian from the Late Triassic period. A lightly built cursorial animal, its phylogenetic position has been debated; as different analyses have found it to be either the basal-most ornithodiran, the sister-taxon to Pterosauria, or a basal member of Avemetatarsalia that lies outside of Ornithodira.

Scleromochlus is a monotypic genus (single species), which is the type species S. taylori.

Scleromochlus taylori was about 181 mm (about 7.1 inches) long, with long hind legs; it may have been capable of four-legged and two-legged locomotion.

Its fossils have been found in the Carnian Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland. The holotype is BMNH R3556, a partial skeleton preserved as an impression in sandstone; part of the skull and tail are missing.

Two Scleromochlus.

References

• Benton, M. J. (1999). "Scleromochlus taylori and the origin of dinosaurs and pterosaurs". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 354 (1388): 1423–1446. doi:10.1098/rstb.1999.0489. JSTOR 57034. PMC 1692658. PMID 0. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1692658. 

• Woodward, A. S. (1907). "On a New Dinosaurian Reptile (Scleromochlus Taylori, gen. Et sp. Nov.) from the Trias of Lossiemouth, Elgin". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 63: 140–144. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1907.063.01-04.12.