Daemonosaurus chauliodus CM 76821 (Sues et al. 2011) Late Triassic ~210 mya was originally considererd a basal theropod dinosaur and close to Herrerasaurus. Here Daemonosaurus nested as a basal phytodinosaur, basal to Sauropodomorpha, Ornithischia and Pseudornithischia. Derived from a sister to Chilesaurus, Daemonosaurus phylogenetically preceded Pisanosaurus, Heterodontosaurus and Dryosaurus.
Distinct from Chilesaurus, the skull of Daemonosaurus had a shorter rounder rostrum. The premaxillary teeth were larger and more sharply curved. The post-narial process of the premaxilla was elongated and enlarged. The nasal was larger and more exposed laterally. The maxilla was shorter. The antorbital fenestra was much smaller. The lateral temporal fenestra was anteroposteriorly narrow. The squamosal included a larger posterior process. The postorbital was more robust. The coronoid process was raised. The mandibular fenestra was smaller. The mandible was short enough to include a predentary bone, but one was not reported. The anterior dentary fang fit into a depression between the premaxilla and maxilla, as in Heterodontosaurus.
See Daemonosaurus compared to sister taxa here. `
Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Xu et al., 2000, Early Cretaceous) nests with Daemonosaurus in the large reptile tree, but with ornithopods when they are included in other trees in which Daemonosaurus is excluded. Jeholosaurus is much smaller and has a standard ornithischian pelvis.
Unlike most dinosaurs, these two, together with the basal sauropodomorph, Leyesaurus, do not fuse the prefrontal and frontal. |
