''Rhynchosaurus'' (''beaked lizard'') is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

rhynchosaur Rhynchosaurs are a group of extinct herbivorous Triassic archosauromorph reptiles, belonging to the order Rhynchosauria. Members of the group are distinguished by their triangular skulls and elongated, beak like premaxillary bones. Rhynchosaurs ...

that lived during the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epoch (geology), epochs of the Triassic period (geology), period or the middle of three series (stratigraphy), series in which the Triassic system (stratigraphy), system is di ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

. It lived in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It was related to the

archosaurs Archosauria () or archosaurs () is a clade of diapsid sauropsid tetrapods, with birds and crocodilians being the only extant taxon, extant representatives. Although broadly classified as reptiles, which traditionally exclude birds, the cladistics ...

, but not within that group. The type species of ''Rhynchosaurus'' is ''R. articeps''.

Michael Benton Michael James Benton (born 8 April 1956) is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate paleontology, vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. His published work has mostly concentrated on ...

named two additional species, ''R. spenceri'' and ''R. brodiei'', but they were subsequently renamed '' Fodonyx'' and '' Langeronyx'' respectively.Martín D. Ezcurra, Felipe Montefeltro and Richard J. Butler (2016). "The Early Evolution of Rhynchosaurs". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 3: Article 142. doi:10.3389/fevo.2015.00142. Fossils of ''Rhynchosaurus'' have been found in the Tarporley Siltstone Formation (

Mercia Mudstone Group The Mercia Mudstone Group is an early Triassic lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic group (stratigraphy), group (a sequence of rock strata) which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands—the name is derived from the ancient ...

) and possibly the

Sherwood Sandstone Group The Sherwood Sandstone Group is a Triassic lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands. The name is derived from Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire which is underlain by ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.''Rhynchosaurus''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org

Phylogeny

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 ...

based on Ezcurra ''et al''., 2016:

References

External links

Archosauromorpha
at Paleofile Rhynchosauria Middle Triassic reptiles of Europe Anisian genus first appearances Anisian genus extinctions Fossils of England Fossil taxa described in 1842 Taxa named by Richard Owen Prehistoric reptile genera {{triassic-reptile-stub