Aerosaurus
Name:
Aerosaurus
(Copper lizard).
Phonetic: Air-o-sore-us.
Named By: Alfred S. Romer - 1937.
Classification: Chordata, Amniota,
Varanopidae, Varanodontinae.
Species: A. greenleeorum
(type), A. wellesi.
Diet: Uncertain.
Size: From about 75 to 100 centimetres long.
Known locations: USA, New Mexico - Abo Cutler
Formation.
Time period: Gzhelian of the Carboniferous through
to the Roadian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Two individuals.
Aerosaurus
is
considered to have been a precursor to later varanopid amniotes
like
Varanops,
yet there are some questions as to the true nature of
Aerosaurus. The teeth of Aerosaurus
are sharp and recurved backwards
like those of a predator, yet they are very tightly packed so that
they form a continuous row kind of like a saw blade. This could
denote a specialised method of feeding like a filter feeder, or
perhaps being a form of rudimentary rake for stripping fronds of
vegetation from fern-like plants.
In
addition to the teeth,
the ribs were also quite long which meant that the body was deeper
with possibly more room for a larger digestive system which may have
been necessary for processing plant matter. Aerosaurus
is also noted
for having a proportionately long tail, almost as much as half of the
total body length.
Further reading
- New genera and species of pelycosaurian reptiles. Proccedings of
the New England Zoological Club XVI: 90-96. Alfred S. Romer -
1937.
- Aerosaurus wellesi, New Species, a
Varanopseid Mammal-Like
Reptile (Synapsida: Pelycosauria) from the Lower Permian of New
Mexico, W. Langston Jr & R. R. Reisz - 1981.
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