Sphenosaurus Explained

Sphenosaurus is a poorly known genus of procolophonid, a type of prehistoric reptile from the Late Permian Buntsanstein of Germany.^[1] Originally assigned the name Palaeosaurus sternbergii, by German paleontologist Leopold Joseph Fitzinger in 1840, the generic name was already preoccupied by not one but two other reptiles assigned the name Palaeosaurus.^{[2] [3]} In 1847, Hermann von Meyer recognized the original 1833 and 1836 usages of Palaeosaurus^[4] and moved P. sternbergii to a new genus, Sphenosaurus.^[5]

Notes and References

1. [Friedrich August von Quenstedt|F. A. Quenstedt]
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708094443/http://www.bristoldinosaur.com/project-history.html The story of Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus
3. A series of posts to the Dinosaur Mailing List by George Olshevsky, regarding the history of Palaeosaurus, including Sphenosaurus: 1 2 3 4
4. Riley, H.. S. Stutchbury. 1836. A description of various fossil remains of three distinct saurian animals discovered in the autumn of 1834, in the Magnesian Conglomerate on Durdham Down, near Bristol. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London. 2. 397–399.
5. [Hermann von Meyer|H. v. Meyer]