Meyerasaurus
Name:
Meyerasaurus
(Meyer’s lizard).
Phonetic: My-er-sore-us.
Named By: Adam S. Smith and Peggy Vincent -
2010.
Synonyms: Eurycleidus victor,
Plesiosaurus victor, Rhomaleosaurus victor, Thaumatosaurus victor.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Pliosauroidea, Rhomaleosauridae.
Species: M. victor (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: 3.35 meters long, skull 37 centimetres
long.
Known locations: Germany.
Time period: Toarcian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Complete and articulated
skeleton with skull that is in ventral view (the underside).
Initially
described as a species of Plesiosaurus
back in 1910, Meyerasaurus
has spent a lot of time being shunted around from one genus to another
before it was given its own place. First the remains were moved from
Plesiosaurus to Thaumatosaurus.
Then a long necked pliosaur
called
Rhomaleosaurus
was suggested to be a synonym to Thaumatosaurus,
but the problem here is that Thaumatosaurus was
described upon only
partial remains. As such Thaumatosaurus
eventually became regarded as
a numen dubium (dubious name) because the holotype (original and
identifying) remains could not really be used to identify any further
discoveries. This resulted in material that was referred to
Thaumatosaurus being placed within the Rhomaleosaurus
genus as new
species, while Thaumatosaurus has since become a
disused taxon. A
later review of all material assigned to Rhomaleosaurus
resulted in
some of the later referred material being moved over to Eurycleidus
as
well as creating Meyerasaurus. The origin of this
name is in honour
of Christian von Meyer who originally created the name Thaumatosaurus.
Meyerasaurus
was a long necked pliosaur, a marine reptile that seems to be
intermediate in form from the long necked plesiosaurs of the early
Jurassic and the short necked pliosaurs that radiated out from them.
Meyerasaurus itself would have been a hunter of
fish and possibly
cephalopods (squid, etc.) and would have used the sharp teeth in
its jaws to snare prey, while probably swallowing it whole, due to
the fact that the teeth were not suited for tearing flesh.
Meyerasaurus itself would have been at risk from
early shorter necked
pliosaurs that were evolving to hunt and kill other marine reptiles.
Further reading
- A new genus of pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower
Jurassic of Holzmaden, Germany. - Palaeontology 53(5):1049-1063. - A.
S. Smith & P. Vincent - 2010.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
More marine creatures
 |
 |
 |
|