#uatchitodon
Species:U. kroehleri(type),U. schneideri(referred)
Etymology: “Uatchit tooth,” after an Egyptian cobra goddess.
Age and Location: Late Triassic of North America
Classification: Vertebrata: Gnathostomata: Euteleostomi: Tetrapoda: Amniota: Sauropsida: Sauria: ?Archosauromorpha: ?Archosauriformes
Uatchitodonis the only known venomous archosauriform. Both species have deep grooves along each side of each tooth, which were closed into tubes in the later, more specialized species U. schneideri. Other than this, however, their teeth look very much like normal carnivorous archosauriform teeth. Uatchitodonis the oldest known venomous reptile, and unlike the only distantly related modern snakes, which have a single venom canal in each fang, Uatchitodonhad serrated teeth with two canals in every tooth. Uatchitodonwas relatively widespread, as fossils have been found in Virginia, North Carolina, and Arizona.
Unfortunately,Uatchitodonis only known from these bizarre teeth, so we know nothing about what the animal as a whole looked like, other than that it was likely reptilian.
Sources:
Mitchell JS., Heckert AB., Sues H-D. 2010. Grooves to tubes: evolution of the venom delivery system in a Late Triassic “reptile”. Die Naturwissenschaften97:1117–21.
Sues H-D. 1991. Venom-conducting teeth in a Triassic reptile. Nature351:141–143.
