Biology:Pachypleurosaur
| Pachypleurosaurs | |
|---|---|
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| Keichousaurus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Clade: | †Eosauropterygia |
| Suborder: | †[[Biology:|Pachypleurosauria]] Nopcsa, 1928 |
| Genera | |
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Pachypleurosaurs were primitive sauropterygian reptiles that vaguely resembled aquatic lizards, and were limited to the Triassic period. They were elongate animals, ranging in size from 20 cm to about a metre in length, with small heads, long necks, paddle-like limbs, and long deep tails. The limb girdles are greatly reduced, so it is unlikely these animals could move about on land. The widely spaced peg-like teeth project at the front of the jaws, indicate that these animals fed on fish. In its subspecies Prosantosaurus, it could be observed that they fed on small fishes and crustaceans which they devoured entirely and that its teeth regrew after they broke off.[3] This was the first observation of a teeth replacement on an european pachypleurosaurus, the only other discovery of such an event tooth was made in China.[4]
Pachypleurosaurs were originally and are often still included within the Nothosauroidea (Carroll 1988, Benton 2004). In some cladistic classifications however (Rieppel 2000), they are considered the sister group to the Eosauropterygia, the clade that includes the nothosaurs and plesiosaurs.
Sources
- Benton, M. J. (2004), Vertebrate Paleontology, 3rd ed. Blackwell Science Ltd
- Carroll, R.L. (1988), Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, WH Freeman & Co.
- Rieppel, O., (2000), Sauropterygia I, placodontia, pachypleurosauria, nothosauroidea, pistosauroidea: In: Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie, part 12A, 134pp. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil Table of contents
References
- ↑ Jun Liu; Olivier Rieppel; Da-Yong Jiang; Jonathan C. Aitchison; Ryosuke Motani; Qi-Yue Zhang; Chang-Yong Zhou; Yuan-Yuan Sun (2011). "A new pachypleurosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the lower Middle Triassic of southwestern China and the phylogenetic relationships of Chinese pachypleurosaurs". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31 (2): 292–302. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.550363.
- ↑ Renesto, S.; Binelli, G.; Hagdorn, H. (2014). "A new pachypleurosaur from the Middle Triassic Besano Formation of Northern Italy". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 271 (2): 151. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2014/0382.
- ↑ Klein, Nicole; Furrer, Heinz; Ehrbar, Iris; Torres Ladeira, Marta; Richter, Henning; Scheyer, Torsten M. (2022-07-13). "A new pachypleurosaur from the Early Ladinian Prosanto Formation in the Eastern Alps of Switzerland" (in en). Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 141 (1): 12. doi:10.1186/s13358-022-00254-2. ISSN 1664-2384. PMC 9276568. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-022-00254-2.
- ↑ "Neue Art eines kleinen Meeressauriers in Graubünden entdeckt" (in de). https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/alle-news-in-kuerze/neue-art-eines-kleinen-meeressauriers-in-graubuenden-entdeckt/47748252.
External links
- Lepidosauromorpha: Pachypleurosauridae - Palaeos
Wikidata ☰ Q134749 entry
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