Eurysaurus (meaning "wide lizard") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur, originally classed as a nothosaur, from the Early Jurassic of Echenoz-la-Meline, France, named in 1878. The type material, consisting of a cranium, teeth and five vertebrae, is now lost.[1] The type species is E. raincourti, and a second species, E. schafferi, was named in 1924 but it has since been absorbed into the unrelated genus Germanosaurus.[2]

Eurysaurus
Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 195–185 Ma
Scientific classification
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Eurysaurus

Gaudry, 1878
Binomial name
Eurysaurus raincourti
Gaudry, 1878

History

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The holotype, first described in 1878 by Albert Gaudry, has since been lost. A new study based essentially on illustrations of the type material by Noè (2001) has considered Eurysaurus a nomen dubium, probably congeneric with the pliosaur Simolestes.[3] However, due to the stratigraphic difference of the two forms, it is possible that Eurysaurus was a separate genus in its own right.

Classification

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Gaudry in 1878 originally classified Eurysaurus as a nothosaur.[1] In 2001, Noè reclassified Eurysaurus as a plesiosaur, possibly belonging to the Pliosauroidea.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Gaudry, a. 1878. Sur un grand reptile fossil (the Eurysaurus raincourti). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des Séances de l ' Académie des Sciences, Paris, 86: 1031–1033.
  2. ^ O. Rieppel. 1997. Revision of the sauropterygian reptile genus Cymatosaurus v. Fritsch, 1894, and the relationships of Germanosaurus Nopcsa, 1928, from the Middle Triassic of Europe. Fieldiana: Geology, new series
  3. ^ a b Noè, LF 2001. A taxonomic and functional study of the Callovian (Middle Jurassic) Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia, Sauropterygia). Ph.D. thesis, University of Derby, Derby, UK.