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Nothosauroids
Nothosaurs (superfamily Nothosauroidea) were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles. They averaged about in length, with a long body and tail. The feet were paddle-like, and are known to have been webbed in life, to help power the animal when swimming. The neck was quite long, and the head was elongated and flattened, and relatively small in relation to the body. The margins of the long jaws were equipped with numerous sharp outward-pointing teeth, indicating a diet of fish and squid. Taxonomy The Nothosauroidea has been suggested to consist of two suborders, the Pachypleurosauria, which are small primitive forms, and the Nothosauria (including two families Nothosauridae and Simosauridae), which may have evolved from pachypleurosaurs. The relation of pachypleurosaurs to Nothosauroidea is uncertain, as several analyses recover the clade as basal to Eusauropterygia, e.i. the clade formed by Nothosauria and Pistosauroidea, instead as the sister taxon of Nothosauria. Many recent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simosauridae
''Simosaurus'' is an extinct genus of marine reptile within the superorder Sauropterygia from the Middle Triassic of central Europe. Fossils have been found in deposits in France and Germany that are roughly 230 million years old. It is usually classified as a nothosaur, but has also been considered a pachypleurosaur or a more primitive form of sauropterygia. Description ''Simosaurus'' grew from in length. It has a blunt, flattened head and large openings behind its eyes called upper temporal fossae. These fossae are larger than the eye sockets but not as big as those of other nothosaurs. ''Simosaurus'' also differs from other nothosaurs in that it has blunt teeth that were probably used for crushing hard-shelled organisms. The jaw joint is set far back, projecting beyond the main portion of the skull. History The type species of ''Simosaurus'', ''S. gaillardoti'', was named by German paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1842.H. von Meyer, (1842). ''Simosaurus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brevicaudosaurus
''Brevicaudosaurus'' is an extinct genus of nothosauroid marine sauropterygian from the Middle Triassic of China. The type species is ''B. jiyangshanensis''. It was a small animal, with specimens measuring approx. 40 cm (16 in) long in total length. It had a broad, flat body, with an unusually short and flattened tail compared to other nothosaurs, which indicates that it could not swim quickly and was probably adapted to a way of life as a benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ... carnivore. The holotype, IVPP V 18625, was prepared by Y.-F. Chen. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q109535729 Nothosauroids Fossil taxa described in 2020 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simosaurus
''Simosaurus'' is an extinct genus of marine reptile within the superorder Sauropterygia from the Middle Triassic of central Europe. Fossils have been found in deposits in France and Germany that are roughly 230 million years old. It is usually classified as a nothosaur, but has also been considered a pachypleurosaur or a more primitive form of sauropterygia. Description ''Simosaurus'' grew from in length. It has a blunt, flattened head and large openings behind its eyes called upper temporal fossae. These fossae are larger than the eye sockets but not as big as those of other nothosaurs. ''Simosaurus'' also differs from other nothosaurs in that it has blunt teeth that were probably used for crushing hard-shelled organisms. The jaw joint is set far back, projecting beyond the main portion of the skull. History The type species of ''Simosaurus'', ''S. gaillardoti'', was named by German paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1842.H. von Meyer, (1842). ''Simosaurus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eusauropterygia
Sauropterygia ("lizard flippers") is an extinct taxon of diverse, aquatic diapsid reptiles that developed from terrestrial ancestors soon after the end-Permian extinction and flourished during the Triassic before all except for the Plesiosauria became extinct at the end of that period. The plesiosaurs would continue to diversify until the end of the Mesozoic, when they became extinct as part of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Sauropterygians are united by a radical adaptation of their pectoral girdle, adapted to support powerful flipper strokes. Some later sauropterygians, such as the pliosaurs, developed a similar mechanism in their pelvis. Other than being diapsids, their affinities to other reptiles have long been contentious. Sometimes suggested to be closely related to turtles, other proposals have considered them most closely related to Lepidosauromorpha or Archosauromorpha, and/or the marine reptile groups Thalattosauria and Ichthyosauromorpha. Origins and evolu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majiashanosaurus
''Majiashanosaurus'' is an extinct genus of pachypleurosaur or alternatively a basal eosauropterygian known from the Early Triassic (Olenekian age) of Anhui Province, eastern China. It contains a single species, ''Majiashanosaurus discocoracoidis''. Discovery ''Majiashanosaurus'' is known solely from the holotype AGM-AGB5954, a nearly complete and articulated postcranial skeleton missing, apart from the skull, some neck vertebrae and a small portion of the tail. This long skeleton is exposed in ventral view, i.e. from below, and preserves the last three neck vertebrae together with 19 back, three sacral, and more than 18 tail vertebrae, as well as pectoral and pelvic girdles, most of the forelimbs and hindlimbs, and ribs. AGM-AGB5954 was collected at Majiashan, Chaohu of Anhui Province, from the Upper Member of the Nanlinghu Formation, dating to the late Olenekian stage (Spathian) of the late Early Triassic, about 248 million years ago. The ichthyopterygian ''Chaohusaurus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pistosauridae
''Pistosaurus'' (exact etymology uncertain) is an extinct genus of aquatic sauropterygian reptile closely related to plesiosaurs. Fossils have been found in France and Germany, and date to the Middle Triassic. It contains a single species, ''Pistosaurus longaevus. Pistosaurus'' is known as the oldest "subaquatic flying" reptile on earth. The skull of ''Pistosaurus'' generally resembles that of other Triassic sauropterygians. However, there are several synapomorphies that make ''Pistosaurus'' distinguished: the long, slender, snout; the possession of splint-like nasals that are excluded from the external naris; and the posterior extension of the premaxilla to the frontals. Based on synapomorphies such as the small nasals size and the presence of interpterygoid vacuity, ''Pistosaurus'' is more closely related to Plesiosauria than to ''Nothosaurus''. ''Pistosaurus'' is often mistaken with ''Nothosaurus'' and Plesiosauria. ''Nothosaurus'' belongs to the clade Nothosauroidea from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eosauropterygia
Sauropterygia ("lizard flippers") is an extinct taxon of diverse, aquatic diapsid reptiles that developed from terrestrial ancestors soon after the end-Permian extinction and flourished during the Triassic before all except for the Plesiosauria became extinct at the end of that period. The plesiosaurs would continue to diversify until the end of the Mesozoic, when they became extinct as part of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Sauropterygians are united by a radical adaptation of their pectoral girdle, adapted to support powerful flipper strokes. Some later sauropterygians, such as the pliosaurs, developed a similar mechanism in their pelvis. Other than being diapsids, their affinities to other reptiles have long been contentious. Sometimes suggested to be closely related to turtles, other proposals have considered them most closely related to Lepidosauromorpha or Archosauromorpha, and/or the marine reptile groups Thalattosauria and Ichthyosauromorpha. Origins an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placodus
''Placodus'' (from , "a plate" and , "tooth") is an extinct genus of marine reptiles belonging to the order Placodontia, which swam in the shallow seas of the middle Triassic period (c. 240 million years ago). Fossils of ''Placodus'' have been found in Central Europe (Germany, France, Poland) and China. Palaeobiology ''Placodus'' had a stocky body with a long tail, and reached a total length of . It had a short neck, and a heavy skull. They were specialized for a durophagous diet of shellfish, such as bivalves. Chisel-like incisors protruded from the anterior margin of the snout, and were probably used to pluck hard-shelled benthic prey from the substrate. The back teeth were broad and flattened, and would have helped to crush the prey. Before the animals' anatomy was known, they were regarded as fishes' teeth. Similar smaller teeth were present on the palatine bones. ''Placodus'' and its relatives were not as well-adapted to aquatic life as some later reptile groups, like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show how much they have changed, so many differing evolutionary trees can be consistent with the same cladogram. A cladogram uses lines that branch off in different directions ending at a clade, a group of organisms with a last common ancestor. There are many shapes of cladograms but they all have lines that branch off from other lines. The lines can be traced back to where they branch off. These branching off points represent a hypothetical ancestor (not an actual entity) which can be inferred to exhibit the traits shared among the terminal taxa above it. This hypothetical ancestor might then provide clues about the order of evolution of various features, adaptation, and other e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic Analyses
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data and observed heritable traits of DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, and Morphology (biology), morphology. The results are a phylogenetic tree—a diagram depicting the hypothesis, hypothetical relationships among the organisms, reflecting their inferred evolutionary history. The tips of a phylogenetic tree represent the observed entities, which can be living Taxon, taxa or fossils. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the taxa represented on the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about directionality of character state transformation, and does not show the origin or "root" of the taxa in questi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dianmeisaurus Mutaensis
''Dianmeisaurus'' is an extinct genus of pachypleurosaur from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation in China. The type species is ''D. gracilis''. An additional species, ''D. mutaensis'', was named in 2024 based on a small skeleton likely belonging to an immature individual. Classification In their 2024 description of ''Dianmeisaurus mutaensis'', Hu, Li & Liu recovered the two species of ''Dianmeisaurus'' as the sister taxon to '' Panzhousaurus'' in a clade of basally-branching pachypleurosaurs. In their analyses, they recovered the Pachypleurosauria as the sister taxon to the Nothosauroidea. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ... below: References {{Taxonbar, from=Q109561670 Pachypleuros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an Order (biology), order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period (geology), Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous ''Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred valid species have been described. In the early twenty-first cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
