Eurysaurus (meaning "wide lizard") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur, originally classed as a nothosaur, from the Early Jurassic of Echenoz-la-Meline, France, named in 1878. The type material, consisting of a cranium, teeth and five vertebrae, is now lost.[1] The type species is E. raincourti, and a second species, E. schafferi, was named in 1924 but it has since been absorbed into the unrelated genus Germanosaurus.[2]
| Eurysaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
| |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Subclass: | |
| Superorder: | |
| Order: | |
| (unranked): | |
| Genus: | †Eurysaurus Gaudry, 1878
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Eurysaurus raincourti Gaudry, 1878
| |
History edit
The holotype, first described in 1878 by Albert Gaudry, has since been lost. A new study based essentially on illustrations of the type material by Noè (2001) has considered Eurysaurus a nomen dubium, probably congeneric with the pliosaur Simolestes.[3] However, due to the stratigraphic difference of the two forms, it is possible that Eurysaurus was a separate genus in its own right.
Classification edit
Gaudry in 1878 originally classified Eurysaurus as a nothosaur.[1] In 2001, Noè reclassified Eurysaurus as a plesiosaur, possibly belonging to the Pliosauroidea.[3]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b Gaudry, a. 1878. Sur un grand reptile fossil (the Eurysaurus raincourti). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des Séances de l ' Académie des Sciences, Paris, 86: 1031–1033.
- ^ O. Rieppel. 1997. Revision of the sauropterygian reptile genus Cymatosaurus v. Fritsch, 1894, and the relationships of Germanosaurus Nopcsa, 1928, from the Middle Triassic of Europe. Fieldiana: Geology, new series
- ^ a b Noè, LF 2001. A taxonomic and functional study of the Callovian (Middle Jurassic) Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia, Sauropterygia). Ph.D. thesis, University of Derby, Derby, UK.
 | This article about a plesiosaur is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |