| Fylax | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype dentary from multiple angles | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Clade: | †Hadrosauromorpha |
| Genus: | †Fylax Prieto-Márquez & Carrera Farias,2021 |
| Species: | †F. thyrakolasus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Fylax thyrakolasus Prieto-Márquez & Carrera Farias, 2021 | |
Fylax (meaning "keeper") is a genus ofhadrosauroidornithopod from theLate CretaceousFiguerola Formation ofSpain. The genus contains a single species,Fylax thyrakolasus, known from a nearly complete left dentary.[1]
The holotype ofFylax,IPS-36338, a left dentary, was discovered in the early 1990s. It was found in the Figuerola Formation inLleida province, northeastern Spain. It was initially described in 1999.[2]
In 2021, Albert Prieto-Márquez and Miguel Ángel Carrera Farias described the dentary as belonging to a new genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur. The generic name,Fylax, comes from the modern Greek, fýlax (keeper), and the specific name,thyrakolasus, comes from the Greek thýra (gate) and kólasi (hell), thus creating the combination "keeper of the gates of hell” in reference to the proximity of this taxon to theCretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event.[1]
Prieto-Márquez and Carrera Farias recoverFylax as the sister taxon toTethyshadros, in a derived position in theHadrosauromorpha, making it one of the latest surviving non-hadrosaurid hadrosauromorphs. Their cladogram is shown below:
