Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov (А.Г. Шаров, 1922–1973) was a Soviet palaeoentomologist,

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and expert on Pterosauria. He graduated from Moscow State University. In 1951 he defended Candidate of Science dissertation on the embryology of

Apterygota The name Apterygota is sometimes applied to a former Subclass (biology), subclass of small, agile insects, distinguished from other insects by their lack of wings in the present and in their evolutionary history; notable examples are the silverfis ...

. Since 1951 he worked at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow, where in 1966 he defended dissertation of Doctor of Science. His major contribution to the phylogeny of Arthropods was published in 1966. He worked during the 1960s and 1970s on the Karatau rocks and discovered many of the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s, of which some have been named after him, as in the case of the '' Karatausuchus sharovi'' (a

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

), and ''

Sharovipteryx ''Sharovipteryx'' ("Sharov's wing", known until 1981 as ''Podopteryx'', "foot wing") is a genus of early gliding reptiles containing the single species ''Sharovipteryx mirabilis''. It is known from a single fossil and is the only glider with a me ...

'' (an early gliding reptile). He also discovered and described the specimen ''

Sordes pilosus ''Sordes'' is a genus of small pterosaur from the late Jurassic ( Oxfordian/ Kimmeridgian) Karabastau Svita of Kazakhstan. This genus was named in 1971 by Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov. The type species is ''Sordes pilosus''. The genus name is L ...

'' in 1971 and '' Longisquama insignis''.

Publications

Sharov, A. G. 1966 ''Unique finds of reptiles from Mesozoic of Central Asia''. Byull. Mosc. Obshch. Ispyit. Prirod., Otd. Geol. Sharov, A. G. 1970 ''Unusual reptile from the Lower Triassic of Fergana''. Pal. Zh. Sharov, A. G. 1971 ''Novyiye lyetayushchiye reptili iz myezozoya Kazakhstana i Kirgizii. New flying reptiles from the Mesozoic of Kazakhstan and Kirghizia''. Trudy paleont. Inst. Moscow. Russian text with end plates.

References

External links

Wings on Hind Legs
Flying reptiles discovered by A. G. Sharov Soviet paleontologists 1922 births 1973 deaths {{paleontologist-stub