Biology:Meyerasaurus
| Meyerasaurus | |
|---|---|
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| The holotype in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Rhomaleosauridae |
| Genus: | †Meyerasaurus Smith & Vincent, 2010 |
| Species: | †M. victor
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| Binomial name | |
| †Meyerasaurus victor (Fraas, 1910 [originally Plesiosaurus])
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| Synonyms | |
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Meyerasaurus is an extinct genus of rhomaleosaurid known from Holzmaden, Baden-Württemberg of southwestern Germany .[1]
Description
Meyerasaurus is known from the holotype SMNS 12478, articulated and complete skeleton which preserved the skull, exposed in ventral view. It has a skull length of 37 centimetres (1 ft 3 in), a body length of 3.35–3.44 m (11.0–11.3 ft).[1][2] It was collected from the Harpoceras elegantulum-falciferum ammonoid subzones, Harpoceras falcifer zone, of the famous Posidonien-Schiefer lagerstätte (Posidonia Shale), dating to the early Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic, about 183-180 million years ago.[1]
Etymology
Meyerasaurus was first named by Adam S. Smith and Peggy Vincent in 2010 and the type species is Meyerasaurus victor. It was originally classified as a species of Plesiosaurus, later as the second named species of Thaumatosaurus (defunct name, meaning "wonder reptile") and ultimately as a species of Eurycleidus or Rhomaleosaurus. The generic name honors the German palaeontologist Hermann von Meyer for proposing the generic name Thaumatosaurus.[1]
Classification
File:Plesiosaur swimming animation.ogv The cladogram below shows Meyerasaurus phylogenetic position among other plesiosaurs, following Benson et al. (2012).[3]
| Plesiosauria |
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Adam S. Smith; Peggy Vincent (2010). "A new genus of pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower Jurassic of Holzmaden, Germany". Palaeontology 53 (5): 1049–1063. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00975.x. http://www.plesiosauria.com/pdf/smith&vincent_2010_meyerasaurus.pdf.
- ↑ Smith, A.S. (2007). "Chapter 3 – Material and palaeontological approaches". Anatomy and Systematics of the Rhomaleosauridae (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria). pp. 27–58. https://plesiosauria.com/final_thesis/3_materials.pdf.
- ↑ Roger B. J. Benson; Mark Evans; Patrick S. Druckenmiller (2012). "High Diversity, Low Disparity and Small Body Size in Plesiosaurs (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary". PLOS ONE 7 (3): e31838. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031838. PMID 22438869. Bibcode: 2012PLoSO...731838B.
Wikidata ☰ Q3496553 entry
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