| Palaeopleurosaurus Temporal range: Early Toarcian,
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|---|---|
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| Fossil specimen | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Rhynchocephalia |
| Family: | †Pleurosauridae |
| Genus: | †Palaeopleurosaurus Carroll, 1985 |
| Species: | †P. posidoniae
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| Binomial name | |
| †Palaeopleurosaurus posidoniae Carroll, 1985
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Palaeopleurosaurus (meaning "old side lizard") is an extinct genus of diapsid reptiles belonging to the group Sphenodontia.[1]
Palaeopleurosaurus fossils were discovered in Germany (Holzmaden and Kerkhofen) from the Lower Toarcian (Early Jurassic), Posidonia Shale, dated to about 182-180 million years ago.[2][3] The holotype come from the Middle Section, just under the Seagrasschiefer section (=Bifrons subzone) on both localities, probably linked with the coeval measured sea regression.[2] Initially, Paleopleurosaurus was described to represent an intermediate morphology between Late Triassic-Lower Jurassic terrestrial sphenodontia and the late Jurassic fully aquatic Pleurosaurus.[2] The study of a new specimen provided additional information, corroborating the existence of an early lineage of elongated sphenodontians, although with retained characters of terrestrial genera such as Kallimodon.[3]
- ^ Dupret, V. (2004). The pleurosaurs: anatomy and phylogeny. Revue de Paléobiologie, 9: 61-80.[1]
- ^ a b c R. L. Carroll, R. L. (1985). A pleurosaur from the Lower Jurassic and the taxonomic position of the Sphenodontida. Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1985. Volume 189. Pages 1-28.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
pleuro2was invoked but never defined (see the help page).