Hescheleria | |
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Reconstruction of the head of Hescheleria | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | † Thalattosauria |
Family: | † Thalattosauridae |
Clade: | † Claraziidae |
Genus: | † Hescheleria Peyer, 1936 |
Type species | |
Hescheleria ruebeli Peyer, 1936b |
Hescheleria is an extinct genus of thalattosaurian marine reptile from the Middle Triassic (247.2 to 235 Ma) of Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland. It is represented by a single type species, H. ruebeli, which was named in 1936. [1]
Like other thalattosaurs, Hescheleria has a slender lizard-like body with a long paddle-shaped tail. It is estimated to have grown to approximately 1 meter in length.
The skull possesses an unusually-shaped snout, with sharply downturned premaxillae. This forms a toothy hook at almost a right angle to the rest of the jaw, with a large diastema. The mandible is considerably robust and is dotted with small sharp teeth, along with a pair of pointed conical projections towards the tip, the function of which is unknown. [2] The strange skull suggests a highly specialized lifestyle. It has been speculated [1] that the projections on the mandible were used to crush hard-shelled prey such as molluscs. Other paleontologists disagree with this hypothesis, [2] arguing that the projections do not occlude against any other potential crushing surface in the jaws, instead making contact with the rostral diastema.
Catopsbaatar is a genus of multituberculate, an extinct order of rodent-like mammals. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 72 million years ago. The first fossils were collected in the early 1970s, and the animal was named as a new species of the genus Djadochtatherium in 1974, D. catopsaloides. The specific name refers to the animal's similarity to the genus Catopsalis. The species was moved to the genus Catopsalis in 1979, and received its own genus in 1994. Five skulls, one molar, and one skeleton with a skull are known; the last is the genus' most complete specimen. Catopsbaatar was a member of the family Djadochtatheriidae.
Nectosaurus is a genus of thalattosaur which lived during the Late Triassic in what is now California. The type and only known species, Nectosaurus halius, was found in the Hosselkus Limestone and described by John C. Merriam in 1905, making it one of the first thalattosaurians known.
Askeptosaurus is an extinct genus of askeptosauroid, a marine reptile from the extinct order Thalattosauria. Askeptosaurus is known from several well-preserved fossils found in Middle Triassic marine strata in what is now Italy and Switzerland.
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Thalattosauria is an extinct order of marine reptiles that lived in the Middle to Late Triassic. Thalattosaurs were diverse in size and shape, and are divided into two superfamilies: Askeptosauroidea and Thalattosauroidea. Askeptosauroids were endemic to the Tethys Ocean, their fossils have been found in Europe and China, and they were likely semiaquatic fish eaters with straight snouts and decent terrestrial abilities. Thalattosauroids were more specialized for aquatic life and most had unusual downturned snouts and crushing dentition. Thalattosauroids lived along the coasts of both Panthalassa and the Tethys Ocean, and were most diverse in China and western North America. The largest species of thalattosaurs grew to over 4 meters (13 feet) in length, including a long, flattened tail utilized in underwater propulsion. Although thalattosaurs bore a superficial resemblance to lizards, their exact relationships are unresolved. They are widely accepted as diapsids, but experts have variously placed them on the reptile family tree among Lepidosauromorpha, Archosauromorpha, ichthyosaurs, and/or other marine reptiles.
Thalattosaurus meaning "sea lizard," from the Attic Greek thalatta (θάλαττα), "sea," and sauros (σαῦρος), "lizard," is an extinct genus of marine reptile in the family Thalattosauroidea. They were aquatic diapsids that are known exclusively from the Triassic period. It was a 2–3 metres (6.6–9.8 ft) long shellfish-eating reptile with paddle-like limbs and a down-turned rostrum occurring in the Lower and Middle Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation of British Columbia as well as the Upper Triassic Hosselkus Limestone of California. It has gained notoriety as a result of studies on general diapsid phylogeny.
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Globidentosuchus is an extinct genus of basal caimanine crocodylian known from the late Middle to Late Miocene of the Middle and the Upper Members of the Urumaco Formation at Urumaco, Venezuela. Its skull was very short and robust, with large units of spherical teeth used to break the shells of molluscs as part of its durophagus diet. It is thought to be one of the most basal Caimanines, even sharing some traits with alligatorids.
Chalawan is an extinct genus of pholidosaurid mesoeucrocodylian known from the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation of Nong Bua Lamphu Province, northeastern Thailand. It contains a single species, Chalawan thailandicus, with Chalawan shartegensis as a possible second species.
Caiman wannlangstoni is an extinct species of caiman that lived in what is now the Amazon Basin and surrounding areas during the Middle and Late Miocene. Fossils of C. wannlangstoni have been found in the Pebas Formation near Iquitos in Peru and include partial skulls and isolated skull bones. Other fossils were uncovered from the Urumaco Formation in Venezuela and the Laventan Honda Group of Colombia. The species was first described in 2015. Features that in combination distinguish C. wannlangstoni from other caimans include a deep snout, a wavy upper jaw margin, a large and upward-directed narial opening, and blunt teeth at the back of the jaws. Based on the sizes of the skulls, its estimated body length is about 211 to 227 centimetres.
Gnatusuchus is an extinct genus of caiman represented by the type species Gnatusuchus pebasensis from the Middle Miocene Pebas Formation of Peru. Gnatusuchus lived about 13 million years ago (Ma) in a large wetland system called the Pebas mega-wetlands that covered over one million square kilometers of what is now the Amazon Basin.
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