Aetonyx

Aetonyx
Type specimens of Aetonyx palustris (19–23), Massospondylus harriesi (18), and Geranosaurus (24)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Sauropodomorpha
Genus: Aetonyx
Broom, 1911
Species
  • A. palustris Broom, 1911

Aetonyx is a dubious genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa. Its only species is A. palustris, which was named by Robert Broom in 1911 based on a fragmentary skeleton from the upper Elliot Formation found near Fouriesburg, Free State Province. Broom considered it as a species of "carnivorous dinosaur". In 1924, Sydney H. Haughton assigned a second specimen to Aetonyx, which is also from Fouriesburg. In 1932, Friedrich von Huene suggested that the species Thecodontosaurus dubius, which Haughton had named in his 1924 paper, is a synonym of Aetonyx palustris. The species was later synonymised with Massospondylus harriesi and Massospondylus carinatus. A 2004 review lists it as an indeterminate sauropodomorph.