''Teleidosaurus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

of carnivorous

metriorhynchoid Metriorhynchoidea is an extinct superfamily (biology), superfamily of thalattosuchian crocodyliforms from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Toarcian - Valanginian, possibly as late as early Aptian) of Europe, North America and South Ame ...

crocodyliform Crocodyliformes is a clade of Crurotarsi, crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the ...

from

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...

(late

Bajocian In the geologic timescale, the Bajocian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 170.9 ±0.8 Ma to around 168.2 ±1.2 Ma (million years ago). The Bajocian Age succeeds the Aalenian Age and precedes the Bathonia ...

to early

Bathonian In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.2 ±1.2 annum, Ma to around 165.3 ±1.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds ...

stage) deposits of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

.Wilkinson LE, Young MT, Benton MJ. 2008. A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK. ''Palaeontology'' 51 (6): 1307-1333. The name ''Teleidosaurus'' means "Complete lizard", and is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

'- ("complete") and -''sauros'' ("lizard").

Discovery

The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

was named ''Teleosaurus Calvadosii'' icby

Jacques Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps Jacques Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps (; 17 January 179417 January 1867) was a French naturalist and paleontologist. His son, Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps (1830–1889), was also a paleontologist. He was born at Caen in Normandy. His parents, though p ...

in 1866;Eudes-Deslongchamps, J.A. 1866. Description d'une espèce inédite de Téléosaure des environs de Caen, le ''Teleosaurus calvadosii''. ''Bulletin Soc. Linn. Normandie'' 2 (1): 112-118. however, it was his son,

Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps (; 10 March 1830 – 21 December 1889) was a French paleontologist and naturalist born in Caen, the son of paleontologist Jacques Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps (1794–1867). He died at Château Matthieu, Calvados. A ...

who erected the generic name ''Teleidosaurus'' later in 1869Eudes-Deslongchamps, E. 1869. Notice sur les animaux fossiles de la famille des Téléosauriens recueillis en Normandie. ''Mémoires Acad. Imp. Sci. et Arts et Belles-Lettres'': 31-80. for ''Teleosaurus calvadosii''. ''Teleidosaurus joberti'' from the

Great Oolite Formation The Great Oolite Group is a Middle Jurassic stratigraphic unit that outcrops in southern England. It consists of a complex set of marine deposits primarily mudstone and bioclastic ooidal and fine grained limestone, deposited in nearshore to ...

is a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''T. calvadosii''. ''T. calvadosii'' is known from the

plastotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

NHM R.2681, a complete

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

and

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

and from NHM 32612, the plastotype of ''T. joberti'', fragmentary right mandible. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

lost during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. However, some plastoholotypes of ''T. calvadosii'' were saved in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

, (NHMUK PV R 2681), the

National Museum of Natural History, France The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the ...

, and the

Museum of Nancy A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

Classification

The only species within ''Teleidosaurus'' is the

''T. calvadosii''. Both ''T. bathonicus'' and ''T. gaudryi'' where referred to ''

Eoneustes ''Eoneustes'' (meaning "dawn swimmer") is an extinct genus of metriorhynchoid crocodyliform from Middle Jurassic (late Bajocian to early Bathonian stage) deposits of France. ''Eoneustes'' was a carnivore that lived in the oceans and spent much, ...

''. All species are from

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

, Normandy of

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses do not support the

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of ''Teleidosaurus''.Mueller-Töwe IJ. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of the Thalattosuchia. ''Zitteliana'' A45: 211–213. Once considered a metriorhynchid, ''Teleidosaurus'' was later recovered as non-metriorhynchid metriorhynchoid.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1902463 Fossil taxa described in 1869 Middle Jurassic crocodylomorphs Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Prehistoric marine crocodylomorphs Fossils of France Thalattosuchia