Palaeopleurosaurus Temporal range: Early Toarcian,
| |
---|---|
Fossil specimen | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Rhynchocephalia |
Family: | †Pleurosauridae |
Genus: | †Palaeopleurosaurus Carroll, 1985 |
Species: | †P. posidoniae
|
Binomial name | |
†Palaeopleurosaurus posidoniae Carroll, 1985
|
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]
pleuro2
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).