Sphenosaurus is the name given to a poorly known prehistoric reptile. 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.
In 1847, Hermann von Meyer recognized the original 1833 usage of Palaeosaurus and moved P. sternbergii to a new genus, Sphenosaurus. This animal is very poorly known, but is most likely some sort of primitive reptile which lived during the Permian.
References
- The story of Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus from The Bristol Dinosaur Project
- A series of posts to the Dinosaur Mailing List by George Olshevsky, regarding the history of Palaeosaurus, including Sphenosaurus: 1 2 3 4
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