''Eurosaurus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of non- mammalian

synapsid Synapsids + (, 'arch') > () "having a fused arch"; synonymous with ''theropsids'' (Greek, "beast-face") are one of the two major groups of animals that evolved from basal amniotes, the other being the sauropsids, the group that includes rep ...

s. Its taxonomic history is intertwined with that of the therapsids '' Brithopus'' and ''

Orthopus ''Orthopus'' is an extinct genus of non-mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their yo ...

'' and the temnospondyl ''

Melosaurus ''Melosaurus'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian. Fossils of it have been found in Russia. Fossil remains of ''Melosaurus uralensis'' were discovered at Belebei in Russia. Its fossils dated of the Asselian-Olenekian stages (299–2 ...

''. In the 1830s and 1840s, Permian fossils were found in copper-bearing sandstones of

Orenburg Governorate Orenburg Governorate (russian: Оренбургская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire with the center in the city of Orenburg, Ufa (1802-1865). The governorate was created in 1744 from ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. Among these bones was a partial humerus, which Fischer van Waldheim described as ''Eurosaurus'' in 1841 or 1842. Fischer did not name a type species, and did not figure the type specimen, the identity of which is uncertain. In 1860, Eichwald united ''Eurosaurus'', ''Brithopus'', ''Orthopus'', and ''Melosaurus uralensis'' under the name ''Eurosaurus uralensis''. In 1866, von Meyer separated ''Melosaurus'' from ''Eurosaurus'', and described ''Eurosaurus'', ''Brithopus'', and ''Orthopus'' under the name ''Eurosaurus verus''. Based on Fischer's brief description, it is possible that the specimen was from a dinocephalian.

References

Bibliography

* * Prehistoric synapsid genera Fossil taxa described in 1860 {{paleo-therapsid-stub

See also

References

Bibliography