Basutodon is a genus of suchian archosaur from the Late Triassic (late Norian-early Rhaetian) Lower Elliot Formation of Lesotho.von Huene, F. (1932). Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihte Entwicklung und Geschichte. Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie 1(4). 361 p. [German] The type species is B. ferox.
Discovery and naming The holotype is a single tooth that was discovered alongside the remains of Euskelosaurus browni in the upper Elliot Formation, Lesotho. The species Basutodon ferox was named and described by von Huene (1932).
"Likhoelesaurus ingens", an undescribed archosauriform from the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa,Ellenberger and Ginsberg, (1966). Le gisement de Dinosauriens triasiques de Maphutseng (Basutoland) et l'origine des Sauropodes [The Triassic dinosaur locality of Maphutseng (Basutoland) and the origin of sauropods]. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série D. 262, 444–447. may have been the same animal as Basutodon ferox.Knoll, F (2004). Review of the tetrapod fauna of the "Lower Stormberg Group" of the main Karoo Basin (southern Africa): Implication for the age of the Lower Elliot Formation. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 175(1), 73–83.
Description Basutodon was once classified as a prosauropod, as with Teratosaurus or as a synonym of Euskelosaurus. It was probably neither of these things, though, and is much more likely to be a dubious non-dinosaur.Glut, D.F. (1997). "Excluded Genera", Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company:Jefferson, North Carolina, 1005-1010. .
Basutodon is currently listed as a basal member of Suchia,Kitching, J.W. & Raath, M.A. (1984). Fossils from the Elliot and Clarens Formations (Karoo Sequence) of the Northeastern Cape, Orange Free State and Lesotho, and a Suggested Biozonation Based on Tetrapods. 25: 111-125. although Tolchard et al. (2019) suggested that Basutodon may belong to Rauisuchia.
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