Palaeopleurosaurus
Palaeopleurosaurus (meaning "old side lizard") is an extinct genus of diapsid reptiles belonging to the group Sphenodontia.
| Palaeopleurosaurus Temporal range: Early Toarcian, | |
|---|---|
| Fossil specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Rhynchocephalia |
| Family: | †Pleurosauridae |
| Genus: | †Palaeopleurosaurus Carroll, 1985 |
| Species: | †P. posidoniae |
| Binomial name | |
| †Palaeopleurosaurus posidoniae Carroll, 1985 | |
Palaeopleurosaurus fossils were discovered in Germany (Holzmaden and Kerkhofen) from the Lower Toarcian (Early Jurassic), Posidonia Shale, dated to about 182-180 million years ago. The holotype come from the Middle Section, just under the Seagrasschiefer section (=Bifrons subzone) on both localities, probably linked with the coeval measured sea regression. Initially, Paleopleurosaurus was described to represent an intermediate morphology between Late Triassic-Lower Jurassic terrestrial sphenodontia and the late Jurassic fully aquatic Pleurosaurus. The study of a new specimen provided additional information, corroborating the existence of an early lineage of elongated sphenodontians, although with retained characters of terrestrial genera such as Kallimodon.