Hyperodapedon (from , 'above' and , 'pavement') is a genus of rhynchosaurs (beaked, archosaur-like reptiles) from the Late Triassic period (Carnian stage). Fossils of the genus have been found in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America. Its first discovery and naming was found by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1859. Hyperodapedon was a herbivore that used its beaked premaxilla and hindlimbs to dig for plants in dry land. Description Hyperodapedon was a heavily built, stocky, animal. H. gordoni had total length around with skull length of to , but largest species, H. huxleyi had lower jaw about and skull length is estimated about . Apart from its beak, it had several rows of heavy teeth on each side of the upper jaw, and a single row on each side of the lower jaw, creating a powerful chopping action when it ate. It is believed to have been herbivorous, feeding mainly on seed ferns, and died out when these plants became extinct at the end of the Triassic. The diagnosis of Hyperodapedon relies on many features of the cranial and postcranial traits which include a longer than wide basipterygoid process, a crest-shaped maxillary cross section next to the main longitudinal groove, deep excavated neural arches on the mid dorsal vertebrae, a long scapular blade, a pronounced deltopectoral crest, and a proximal humeral end which is broader at the distal end. The maxillary tooth plates are easily seen in Hyperodapedon and there are seven cranial, six postcranial, and three dentition synapomorphy traits. Hyperodapedon had jaws that allowed them to have a precision-shear bite to break down the tough plants that they ate. The beak-like premaxilla and hind limbs were used for digging up food. Teeth along the maxilla and dentary had open roots which could not be replaced like other reptiles. The forelimbs, on the other hand, were used for movement due to the rotation of; the humerus, however, the femur was not able to rotate. Another unique feature of Hyperodapedon was the large eyes with sclerotic plates, which allowed for good sense of vision. They had large nasal capsules to sense smell. Since Hyperodapedon lacked a tympanum, it was believed that they could sense sound by the skin near the quadrate. Hyperodapedon also appears to have had transverse rows of cone-shaped teeth along the lateral area of the maxilla. Hyperodapedon's closest relative is Rhynchosaurus, and they both share a synapomorphy